Editorial Reviews

Bartók in the Desert: The Art of Irén Marik introduces most of us to this Hungarian pianist, who had once studied with Béla Bartók and made her London debut in 1927. This Arbiter Records release is the first in what one hopes will be an extended summary of her work in terms of recordings. Marik recorded in the 1950s for the short-lived Zodiac label run by theater organist Lee Erwin, and for her own Draco label from the 1950s to the 1970s. Under normal circumstances, such subterranean classical issues would come through to posterity in no better state than the moldy LP copy this reviewer once found of Marik's Liszt album some years ago. But we have Arbiter producer Allan Evans to thank for seeking out Marik at her home in the East Sierra Nevadas and securing her recorded legacy after her death in 1986.

Evans' liner notes are fascinating and go far beyond a typical recounting of the highpoints of the subject's career into the realm of personal reminiscences and a real understanding of the artist. The sound quality is necessarily variable, given that these recordings span the period from before 1955 to 1983. Surprisingly, the sound is good to excellent -- the Zodiac tapes produced by Erwin sound better than contemporary piano recordings made for RCA Victor and Columbia Masterworks. Marik's playing is electrifying in Bartók, magisterial in Liszt, and is supremely disciplined, expressive, and technically incomparable overall.

Marik is a standard-bearer for the art of achieving something just by virtue of doing it, and keeping it up in the face of neglect and inattention. Her work is pure and unfiltered by considerations of commercial value or the pressure of competition. It is a shame that the closest Marik came to Carnegie Hall was that critic Harold C. Schonberg once sold an album she had sent to him to a record shop located behind it. Thanks to Arbiter, posterity need no longer wait to discover the astounding artistry of Irén Marik. Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

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