Many people derive pleasure from Godowsky's feat of combining, reversing and single-handed handling of Chopin's Etudes. They are pianistic wonders but musically bloat and ruin Chopin's careful constructions. As a composer of original works, Godowsky is more interesting, for example the way he shaped music heard on an Asian tour into his Java Suite, resulting in pieces far ahead of his time. He was said to have played better in private than in public. The coldness and restraint of his concerts prompted an epigrammatic review from a Copenhagen critic: "Godowsky came to Copenhagen. Farewell-sky." Most of Godowsky's recordings are correct but extremely dull from their being overly- cautious. A few examples of unfettered music-making were captured, above all in Grieg's Ballade, a miraculous balance of pianism, insightful delivery, presence of emotion and a fantastic sense of structure. Godowsky will remain an enigma whose true art only escaped from privacy for a few moments, leaving a trail of bland performing as a false representation of his capabilities
© Allan Evans, 1996