Dame Moura Lympany was an extraordinarily gifted pianist. Had she been a man, hers would be a household name. Nonetheless, she was awarded second prize in the 1938 Ysaÿe International Festival in Brussels. To give you an idea of whom she competed against, Emil Gilels was the first prize winner with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli only in seventh place. The jury included Arthur Rubinstein, Samuil Feinberg, Emil von Sauer, Ignaz Friedman, Walter Gieseking, Robert Casadesus, the reigning virtuosi of the time, and Arthur Bliss, an important English composer.
Her touch was sublime as was her phrasing and structural vision. Just listen to
Moura Lympany's Chopin
which was exquisite, her Granados delicately Spanish, her Debussy oh so French, her Liszt a sparkling canvas, and
her Rachmaninov
... well, her Rachmaninov!!
Probably the first great woman pianist to specialize in the works of Sergei Rachmaninov, certainly the first pianist to record the complete Preludes which she did in 1945, she could play the most daunting passages without calling attention to their technical difficulties.
If you listen carefully to her playing you will discover polyphonies you never suspected. Her ability to give each voice its own tonal quality was stunning. That point at which one gasps because a pianist has managed a finger breaking passage is with her a moment of sheer incredulity because she has bent the piano to her will and made it resplendent with orchestral timbres.
So what do I really think of Dame Moura's playing? Give a listen.
Albeniz/Godowsky Tango in D Major Recorded in 1952
Beethoven Sonata No. 14 in C# minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op.27 N°2 "Moonlight" i. Adagio sostenuto
Brahms Intermezzo in B flat minor Op 117 n2 Recorded in 1952
Chaminade "Automne" Op. 35 N°2
Debussy "Claire De Lune"
Debussy Prelude "La fille aux cheveux de lin"
Dohnányi Capriccio in F minor Op.28 N°6 Recorded in 1963
Granados 'La Maja y el Roseñor' ('The Maiden and the Nightingale') Recorded in 1963
Handel "The Harmonious Blacksmith"
Liszt Les Jeux d'Eaux a la Villa d'Este Recorded in 1947
Liszt Valse-Impromptu Recorded in 1963
Liszt Transcendental Etude No 5 "Feux Follets" Recorded in 1949
Ravel Toccata n°6 from Le Tombeau de Couperin John Browning recorded in 1967 Lympany recorded in 1949
