Bolet in Oz 1987?

SDC Legendz Pianistz
1

I will embark on another discography project this weekend, this time directed towards Jorge Bolet, and I just begun preparing a little by pulling things out and forming an overview of what I have and don’t have. In so doing the item below jumped out at me…

I’m a little perplexed by this since I have never heard of an Australian tour from him that year. Do any of the Aussies on the board know anything about this recording? Whether he did visit Australia in 1987, if so what month, or maybe even have recording dates for the production? Do the ABC have a searchable archive? I know Bolet visited in 1985, so I guess he might have recorded it then and that it’s perhaps Decca’s VHS release which dates from 1987. But the repertoire does fit for 1987, and would be more surprising in 1985.

=================================================
JB#207. 1987: Ripponlea House, Melbourne, Australia (Studio TV Broadcast | DivX414MB)

• Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23
• Chopin: Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15 No.2
• Chopin: Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1
• Chopin: Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op.52
 ∞ | (1987-??-??) | ø | M

  • Decca 071151 [VHS] -> DivX
    • Liszt: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, S.161 No.5 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
    • Liszt: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, S.161 No.6 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
    • Liszt: Venezia e Napoli, S.162
     ∞ | (1987-??-??) | ø | M

  • Decca 071151 [VHS] -> DivX

  • The Chopin and Liszt segments are recorded in different rooms of the house, and presumably on different days.

2

I know of Bolet tours in 1981 and 1985 but hadn’t heard about one in '87.
Not saying it didn’t happen, he just might not have visited my hometown.
This is the programme he played in Canberra in '85 btw:

Bolet 1985

  1. Bach-Busoni Chaconne
  2. Chopin Preludes op 28

Interval

  1. Rachmaninoff Variations on a theme of Chopin
  2. Liszt valse impromptu in A flat
  3. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody no 12

The person to ask is cvx_melody, he seems to know this sort of thing pretty well. I don’t know if you’re in contact with him.

3

Well… I’ve known the name for around 15 years now and we have talked a little from time to time, but I can’t say I know him. He responded to a request I made here this spring, and I sent him a PM with a thanks and an offer for another recording with the same pianist, but after like 5 weeks he still hadn’t read it so I deleted it.

Thanks for the program! This does make 1987 likely since there’s not a work there repeated in the ABC recording. I guess he probably was there after all. It’s just weird that I can’t find a single reference to it.

4

Allright, he was there: newspapers.com/newspage/120492269/

Feb-March somewhere at least then.

5

A good start to Bolet’s discography here:

pianistdiscography.com/discograp … PIANIST=10

Does anyone have the cover for Bolet’s DVD and his AS Disc cd.