Michael Ponti (1937-2022)

[britishcomposer]

My local newspaper informed me that Michael Ponti died on Monday. We owe him great thanks for his pioneering recordings of unsung repertoire, many of which still unsurpassed.

[Ilja]

Oh, that's a shame. I've come to know and love a great many unsung concertos through Ponti's recordings. Sure, he could be idiosyncratic or sometimes just plain daft, but the current upswing in the discovery of unjustly neglected music is at least partly his doing. A great performer.

[Mark Thomas]

I can only echo Ilja's appreciation of Ponti. He had the spirit of discovery and, although by today's standards his recordings were sometimes not of the highest quality and made with second rate orchestras, he almost invariably delivered barnstorming and persuasive performances of so many unsung concertos. We owe this pioneer a great debt.

[eschiss1]

Agreed. Very sorry to hear this.

[terry martyn]

I wish I had heard him in the Pabst!!

[Gareth Vaughan]

He was a truly great pianist who introduced us to some narvellous unsung works. His contract with Vox was punishing, giving him little time to practice very difficult music and forcing him to record with some second rate bands. But his technique was awesome and he lit a torch for the revival of interest in unsung Romantics  at least as far as the piano repertoire goes. A great loss.

[Jonathan]

RIP Michael Ponti.  I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments above. I shall give his recordings of Alkan a spin in memoriam.

[eschiss1]

M Martyn- The Onegin transcription or a live performance of the concerto? (op.81. or 82?)

[terry martyn]

I remember reading somewhere (one of the CD booklets about the Pabst Concerto,I think)  that Professor Ponti played through the piano score in his usual thrilling manner at a private gathering.  That is something that,sadly,never reached the public eye.  I will always remember him for getting me ,as a teenager,excited about the wealth of wonderful unsung Romantic Concertos which in his inimitable way he brought to life (the Bronsart immediately comes to mind).

[adriano]

A great virtuoso! His interpretations were pioneering, magnificent and diabolic.
He could play the most difficutlt concertos and had, apparently, Clara Schumann's  handspan.
And he was the first pianist recording complete piano solo works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Scriabin!
Unfortunately, some of his VOX-Turnabout recordings were abridged, in order to get some more music on an LP.
And the orchestras hired were sometimes questionable, not to speak about the bad original LP pressings - but some of them were, fortunately, licensed to Decca - and, of course, reissued on CDs.
And that was the start of "The Romantic Piano Concerto" series, later imitated by Hyperion and Naxos.
In my personal opinion, his Henselt (which he recorded twice; in 1968 and in1997), Raff and Moszkowski Concertos remain the best still today!

[eschiss1]

One of the best legacies one can leave, imho, is to inspire others to follow in one's fingersteps.

[eschiss1]

Also, no longer as unknown (and not quite in our stylistic crosshairs), but I think his attempt to record all Scriabin's known piano music, for example, was both inspiring and appreciated (I haven't yet listened to much of the result, but plan to listen to a number of his recordings as stream or are in my collection soon myself.)

[scarpia]

I loved his recordings. Even if they sounded crude they had a lot of spirit. His recording of the Lyapunov Ukrainian Rhapsody is still my favorite.

[Alan Howe]

Unfortunately I never listened to Ponti's recordings because the the orchestras were usually so heavily criticised. Still, today we have Hamelin...

[Gareth Vaughan]

A great virtuoso! His interpretations were pioneering, magnificent and diabolic.

I agree wholeheartedly, Adriano.

And the orchestras hired were sometimes questionable, not to speak about the bad original LP pressings

And, sadly, I have also to agree...