Description
The two recitals in this collection come from the last decade of Jorge Bolet's career. While his Carnegie Hall recital from 1974 was recorded and released by RCA, very few other live performances of Bolet recorded under professional conditions have been released commercially. This archival recording give us a wonderful opportunity to hear Bolet performing for an audience - something he preferred to working in the recording studio. Bolet was a strict, controlled and serious musician who could sometimes sound emotionally constrained in his studio recordings. On occasion though, he would give a recital performance that transcended his studio work with everything seeming to fall into place, and this first concert from 11 November 1981 has that quality to it. Bolet was evidently on form as he gave five encores to an enthusiastic audience. The two Preludes by Chasins do not appear in Bolet's commercial discography. Located on the campus of Ambassador College in Pasadena, California, the 1262 seat Ambassador Auditorium was a major West Coast concert hall between 1974 and 1995 presenting around 2,500 concerts, and attracted the greatest instrumentalists and orchestras.
