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.
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.
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.
Agreed. Very sorry to hear this.
I wish I had heard him in the Pabst!!
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.
RIP Michael Ponti. I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments above. I shall give his recordings of Alkan a spin in memoriam.
M Martyn- The Onegin transcription or a live performance of the concerto? (op.81. or 82?)
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).
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!
One of the best legacies one can leave, imho, is to inspire others to follow in one's fingersteps. ;)
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.)
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.
Unfortunately I never listened to Ponti's recordings because the the orchestras were usually so heavily criticised. Still, today we have Hamelin...
QuoteA great virtuoso! His interpretations were pioneering, magnificent and diabolic.
I agree wholeheartedly, Adriano.
QuoteAnd the orchestras hired were sometimes questionable, not to speak about the bad original LP pressings
And, sadly, I have also to agree...
Quote from: adriano on Wednesday 19 October 2022, 13:09In my personal opinion, his Henselt, Raff and Moszkowski Concertos remain the best still today!
Agreed! And his Reinecke 1, like the above, is unsurpassed.
I knew that someday we would have to read this news, but it still comes as a shock. He was a great pioneer of the unsung. Despite the better sounding recordings of others that followed, his performances were so exhilarating that it's to his recordings that I return to again and again.
This obit, a reprint from the Washington Post, appeared in Legacy.com:
Reprint of the obit in the Washington Post (https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/michael-ponti-obituary?id=36842554)
Way back in 1980 I was working at the Flagstaff Summer Music Festival as a recording engineer. The festival director at that time was very broadminded and knew everyone it seemed in the music world and one memorable week he brought in Michael Ponti. The first rehearsal was the Saint-Saens 2nd concerto. As the rehearsal ended, the mounting storm so common in Flagstaff that time of year opened up a torrential rain. Ponti was staying at a hotel about a half mile from the auditorium. He didn't have a car and the management never considered maybe he needed a ride or something. I wrapped up my work, left the hall, got in my truck and what do you know, there was this world-class pianist walking in the downpour. I drove up to him and asked him if he'd like a ride. Of course he would! We got to his hotel and he asked me to come into the pub for a beer. Why not? He was amazed that me, a redneck with a 22 gauge shotgun in his truck, wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat knew his recordings and was a fan of Raff! He thought that was so funny. We talked, and drank, for a couple of hours, about the forgotten composers whom he certainly took an interest in. What a memorable experience that was. He told me that if I really loved classical music I should move to Germany! I didn't.
What a wonderful memory, Martin. It couldn't be more special.
Marvellous - very special indeed. I'm hugely jealous!
How sad! He was one of the first pianists to record rare repertoire. I have many of his excellent recordings.
I'm late on the scene, but I endorse all the positive comments. I seem to recall that his playing was sometimes derided by the critics, butI never understood why since those Turnabout/Vox performances had immediate appeal. They also introduced me to many Unsung Composers and compositions - thanks, Michael Ponti.