STRAUSS-GODOWSKY: CONCERT PARAPHRASES. Antony Rolle, piano. Finnadar...

STRAUSS-GODOWSKY: CONCERT PARAPHRASES. Antony Rolle, piano. Finnadar 90298-1-E (digital). The legendary pianist Leopold Godowsky (1870-1937) used to wow ‘em at concerts with these transcriptions of favorite tunes by the waltz king, and, in a delightful feat of anachronistic bravura, Rolle repeats history. This quartet of arrangements--based on material from “Fledermaus,” “Wine, Woman and Song,” “Artist’s Life” and the “Symphonic Metamorphosis of the Schatz-Walzer Themes from ‘Zigeunerbaron’ For Left Hand Alone”--trades in sudden plunges into the minor, thick contrapuntal textures, excessive melodic embellishments and arpeggios for days. But these paraphrases truly retain the soul of the waltz. As a study in carefully manicured bad taste, this collection has few rivals.