Mischa Levitzki (1898–1942) was born near Kiev to naturalized American parents who had returned to their homeland. He was a pupil of Michalowski, Stojowski, and Dohnányi and quickly established himself as a major rising star in the 1920s. Indeed, had it not been for his early death, he would surely have been seen as one of the major pianists of the century. He specialized in the virtuoso romantic repertoire, and his recordings include several of the warhorses of the period such as Rubinstein's 'Staccato' Etude and Moszkowski's 'La Jongleuse'. However, at the same time, there is a refinement to his playing which is heard to good effect in his Chopin and Schumann, making his Liszt noble rather than bombastic. The HMV recordings presented here form the most important part of his meager recorded legacy.

As one of the great pianists of the 20th century, WILHELM BACKHAUS (1884–1969) needs no introduction. He recorded almost continuously from 1908 until his death, but this set, focusing on his earliest recordings, completes APR’s coverage (see also APR 6026, APR 6027 and APR 5637) of all his solo and concerto output for The Gramophone Company/HMV, except the electrically recorded Brahms titles, which are available elsewhere. These early discs reveal Backhaus as an exciting young virtuoso, rather than the sober purveyor of German classics he was to become.

In 1986, the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who left his homeland 61 years ago, announced that he would return to the Soviet Union for the first time since 1925 to give recitals in Moscow and Leningrad. This sensational historic recital from Moscow includes works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, whom Horowitz knew both, Domenico Scarlatti, W.A. Mozart, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann and Moritz Moszkowski. The disc too contains additional documentary footage with Horowitz. “Horowitz, playing with a clarity and dynamic range that friends said he had not matched in many years“ (New York Times) made an outstanding performance of musical, as well as political, significance.

Although Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) wrote a considerable quantity of piano music, only a single piece, ‘Étincelles’, made it into the repertoire, not least because Horowitz enjoyed playing it. The early works on this second instalment in Ian Hobson’s survey of Moszkowski’s complete music for solo piano reveal a debt to Mendelssohn and Schumann, but the effortless craftsmanship to be heard here already justifies a later remark of Paderewski’s: ‘After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique’. Most of the pieces in Opp. 15 and 18 are attractive salon miniatures, but the Three Piano Pieces in Dance Form, Op. 17, are extended Lisztian essays that showcase Moszkowski’s mastery of the keyboard and his command of form.

Ferenc Kiss was born in Budapest in 1943.He began to play the violin and piano at the age of 5, first learning with his father who was concert master of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, then at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1959, and also inDüsseldorf with Sándor Végh. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 20, and from 1965 he played throughout Europe, Mexico and Japan, as well as making recordings for numerous Radio and TV Stations all over the world. From 1963 he became concertmaster of the Philharmonia Hungarica, then later at Opera Saarbrücken 1968-74, München Symphonie Orchestra 1974-79, and from1979 at the German State Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a guest concertmaster and soloist for many years with orchestras such as the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Köln Radio Orchestra, Opera Nürnberg, Basque National Orchestra (San Sebastian), Orchestra Sinfonica di Bolzano e Trento, Symphony Orchestra Xalapa (Mexico) and Pro Arte Orchestra München. This is his first Portrait album.

The Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) is best remembered for a handful of virtuoso piano pieces, but he also produced a substantial body of orchestral music, most of it unperformed for decades. Astonishingly, he was only in his early twenties when he wrote his monumental ‘Symphonic Poem in Four Movements’ Johanna d’Arc – heard here in its first recording – a vast symphonic fresco depicting the life, death and transfiguration of the heroine of Friedrich Schiller’s 1801 play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Moszkowski admitted to the influence of Wagner and Raff on the work – but he also managed to prefigure the musical language of the Hollywood epics of sixty years later. As pianist, Ian Hobson has a long-standing relationship with Toccata Classics, and this is the fourth recording he has made in his alter ego as conductor – at the helm of the Sinfonia Varsovia, as with his previous albums, which uncovered the early orchestral music of Martinu. This is the first of a series of Ian Hobson recordings for Toccata Classics that will focus on Moszkowski’s piano and orchestral music.

Moritz Moszkowski enjoyed a considerable international reputation as a composer and pianist, and was feted as the natural successor to Chopin. It is a mark of his music's success that it was arranged for countless ensembles and solo instruments. French violinist Emile Sauret transformed the popular Spanish Dances into virtuoso showpieces filled with all manner of impressive elaborations, Jascha Heifetz similarly turning Etincelles or "Sparks" into something brilliantly light and twinkling. The interaction of two violins makes the Suite highly dramatic, contrasting with the fine lyrical melody of Moszkowski's Serenata.