The violin is undeniably the key instrument of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Since the very first edition of the Ysaye Competition, won by David Oistrakh in 1937, and Leonid Kogan's victory in the first edition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1951, an impressive succession of laureates has helped to shape the musical life of the last 80 years. This 4-album set includes highlights from the performances of the 12 laureates of the 2019 Violin Competition. These young artists are heard in their chamber music programme of the semi-finals, in their performances of the Mozart concerti in the semi-finals with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie conducted by Jean-Jacques Kantorow, as well as in the great repertory concertos in the final with the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Hugh Wolff.

From 1947 to 1956 Ruggiero Ricci played on the 1734 Guarneri del Gesu "Ferni, Duc de Camposelice" and from 1956 to 1999 he usually played on the 1731 Guarneri del Gesu "Gibson, ex-Huberman, " which he purchased in 1977. For him the Guarneri sound (as opposed to Stradivari) was a matter of preference, able as it was to give the required brilliance, color and attack that he sought. Until 1981 he also owned violin Lorenzo Storioni c. 1779, with which he recorded the 6 Bach Solos on February 27-28, 1981. This 4-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1952 to 1986, including some rarities which have never been released commercially, like the Bartok Romanian Folk Dances, Bloch Violin Sonata No. 1, Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1, and Saint-Saens Violin Sonata No. 1 Op. 75.

Ruggiero Ricci followed the tradition of Vasa Prihoda, the Czech virtuoso, who performed Paganini as a central part of his repertory (Ricci gave the US premieres of both the 4th and 6th Violin Concertos). Giving so much attention to the works of the Genoese composer, as he later said, he learned much of the violin-technique from Paganini's works. Mainly for this reason, Ricci was often associated with Paganini, but during his life he was firmly opposed to any categorization, and indeed he was known to say: "A specialist is somebody who plays all the other types of music worse." This 4-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1946 to 1970, including some rarities, which have never before been commercially released.

Ruggiero Ricci is recognized to have greatly contributed to the world's renewed appreciation and affection for the great 19th century composers, though he maintained a broad repertoire including over 50 concertos with orchestra. Ricci has performed the world premieres of several contemporary composers including Gottfried von Einem, Richard Flury, Urs Joseph Flury, Vittorio Giannini, Alberto Ginastera, Alexander Goehr, Gail Kubik, Benjamin Lees, Gerard Shurmann and Carlos Veerhoff. His official discography encompasses the widest repertoire of any violinist. This six-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1951 to 1978, including some rarities, never recorded commercially, like the Ginastera Violin Concerto, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze Violin Concerto, and Paganini Violin Concerto No. 6.

For their 88th year the prestigious Arena di Verona Festival paid tribute to internationally acclaimed Italian stage director Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli delivers an opulent staging of the fairy-tale story of the Chinese Princess Turandot, who will only marry a prince capable of solving her riddles. Russian soprano Maria Guleghina gives a brilliant rendition of Turandot. Salvatore Licitra's trump card is his imposingly radiant tenor voice of which he remains in sovereign control even in the role's much-feared highest register. The soprano Tamar Iveri is a beautiful and sensitive Li�. Romeo et Juliette had not been performed at the Arena since 1977. The new production was entrusted to Italian director Francesco Micheli, who opted for a personal, highly original version: 'An arena within the Arena, like a blood-red Elizabethan theatre. A senescent world that will not let it's own children live.' Juliette is sung by Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze, returning to one of her early roles at the Salzburg Festival. Stefano Secco, often heard at the Opera Bastille in Paris and other international venues, is Romeo. Artur Rucinski interprets Mercutio, Romeo's friend and the rival of Jean-Francois Borras's Tybalt. The page Stephano is sung by soprano Ketevan Kemoklidze. Aida To celebrate the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi's birth, La Fura dels Baus opens the 'Centenario Festival 2013' of the Arena di Verona. Carlus Padrissa and Alex Olle sign a brilliant new version of Aida. Aida is the most popular opera at the Verona Festival, the only one performed every year, 17000 spectators enjoy the show every evening. This new production is designed by La Fura dels Baus. They transform the arena into a huge desert, creating mechanical animals and manufacture a solar power plant. They use their experience in leading large-scale shows and opera to create the Aida of the XXIst century splendidly conducted by a young talented conductor : Omer Meir Wellber.

Girolamo Frescobaldi is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of music for harpsichord and organ, and had an enormous influence on other composers up until Bach. His brilliant toccatas reveal an inner world that fascinates today's listener. Frescobaldi's inspiration was born at the court of Ferrara and reached maturity in Rome, where the composer found himself among the major artists of the time who were actively creating a new artistic language. This 7-album set includes the four collections by Frescobaldi which, due to their exceptional innovative strength, have left the greatest mark on the history of music for the keyboard. A pupil of Leonhardt and Tagliavini, Francesco Cera is today recognized as one of the leading specialists in Frescobaldi, whose music he has helped to disseminate through concerts and master classes in Europe and the United States. Part of the music was recorded in the excellent acoustics of the Sala della Vigna in the Delizia di Belriguardo, the summer residence of the Este dukes, where the very young Frescobaldi was often present. Cera has chosen nine priceless instruments, including the Guglielmi organ of 1615 in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella in Rome, and a copy of the harpsichord by Nicolò Albana, Naples 1584. The art historian Denis Grenier has been entrusted with the task of illustrating seven works of art that testify to the link between the music of Frescobaldi and the art in Rome of his time.

In summer 1987, nine years after he first requested permission to emigrate, the 35-year-old Russian pianist Vladimir Feltsman was finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Feltsman, who had studied at the Moscow Conservatory with the legendary Yakov Flier and won first prize at the prestigious Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris at the age of 19, arrived in New York amid a welter of publicity. CBS Masterworks offered him a recording contract, while President Ronald Reagan welcomed him to the White House for a recital that was glowingly reviewed in the New York Times.

When Feltsman made his Carnegie Hall debut two months later, the Times hailed him as “an artist of wide musical interests who on this occasion included three pieces from Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésusto set off more popular works by Schubert and Schumann … Mr. Feltsman took an aptly spacious and relaxed approach to the first two movements [of Schubert’s A major Sonata D 664)] … He then let loose in the more brilliant Allegro finale with an impressive display of breathtaking scales … In the Messiaen, Mr. Feltsman drew out its great, clashing sonorities and made light of its technical terrors. At the conclusion of Schumann’sSymphonic Etudes, any lingering doubts about Mr. Feltsman’s pianistic strengths or artistic instincts were blown away.”

Interest in Feltsman’s pianism had already been piqued before the pianist set foot in the New World by a performance, released by CBS in 1986, of the Chopin Preludes recorded in Moscow. “Feltsman sweeps through the 24 Preludes with genuine poetic bravura,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. “There is a daring and Romantic fire in the playing which only add to the agony of his plight.”

Now Sony Classical is reissuing that Carnegie debut recital from 1987, a Russian Chopin recording that preceded it and an even earlier Schubert recital, from Paris in 1978, along with all the other Feltsman performances captured by CBS mics before his collaboration with the label ended in 1989. Among them are a live Liszt recital including the B minor Sonata and a live Rachmaninoff coupling of the Third Concerto andRhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic: “Feltsman’s pianistic control compels admiration. He is a commanding player.” (Gramophone).

He also recorded the First and Third Tchaikovsky concertos with Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich, who, wrote Gramophone’s reviewer, “coaxes out playing of the very highest quality – rich-toned, idiomatic in inflexion, with just the right degree of thrust when required … [Feltsman’s] is a relatively laid back view of the First Concerto – no screaming in the outer movements, no flash-fingered shallowness in the central prestissimo of the slow movement. The big first movement cadenza is wonderfully fluid and continuous, and the transition into the following coda is a dream. There is much sensitive dialogue between piano and orchestra, well captured by the recording … a performance one can learn from, and the Third Concerto goes splendidly.”

Feltsman’s last CBS recording featured the first two Prokofiev Piano Concertos and ten pieces from Romeo and Juliet: “One has only to hear the refinement of colour he produces in ‘Romeo bids Juliet farewell’ … or the clarity and lightness of articulation in the First Concerto to realize that he possesses not only formidable fingers but very considerable artistry … The LSO under Michael Tilson Thomas produce excellent support … Again [in Concerto No. 2] there is splendid pianism from Feltsman and cultured playing from Tilson Thomas and the LSO.”

SET CONTENTS:

DISC 1:
Chopin: Préludes, Op. 28

DISC 2:
Schubert: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 15, D. 760 "Wanderer"    
Schubert: Moments musicaux, Op. 94, D. 780    

DISC 3:
Schubert: Sonata for Piano in A Major, Op. 120, D. 664    
Messiaen: Vingt regards sur L'enfant-Jésus    

DISC 4:
Schumann: Symphonic Études (Variations) in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 13    
Rachmaninoff: Prélude in G-Sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12    
Beethoven: 6 Variations on an Original Theme in D Major, Op. 76    

DISC 5:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30    
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43    
Conductor: Zubin Mehta
Performer: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

DISC 6:
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-Flat Major, Op. 10    
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16 (1923 Version)    
Prokofiev: 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75: No. 10, Romeo and Juliet before Parting    
Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas 
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra 

DISC 7:
Liszt: Sonata in B Minor
Liszt: Tre Sonetti di Petrarca
Liszt: St. Francis d'Assise: La predication aux oiseaux

DISC 8:
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 75: Allegro brillante
Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich 
Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra 

This survey is the sequel to comparably comprehensive Brilliant Classics collections of 20th-century guitar preludes and sonatas. The sonatinas included take their place as part of a long process of study conducted by Cristiano Porqueddu over the past few years. The high percentage of world premiere recordings - more than half of the entire tracklist - should give a good idea of how the research was conducted: as with the two previous releases, space has been given to those works that rarely appear either in concert or on record, in order to give voice to a considerable amount of excellent music almost completely ignored. Porqueddu made a longlist of over 60 sonatinas by 20th-century and by living composers, before narrowing down the final choice to the 17 performed here. Before Porqueddu, of course, there was the pioneer of modern guitar performance a century ago, Andres Segovia, who commissioned and inspired countless composers to write for him. One of those was the English composer Cyril Scott, and while Segovia expressed some misgivings about the result – ‘I’m not head over heels about it’, he wrote to his friend Manuel Ponce – the three-movement Sonatina makes a fine test of any guitarist’s musicianship and effectively inhabits the Spanish guitar tradition with its mysterious slow introduction and hypnotic central, Flamenco-style slow movement. The sonatinas by Mark Delpriora, Carlos Surinach and Albert Harris are no less compressed in expression, using the sonatina form to pack ideas into ten minutes that would occupy half an hour in the hands of lesser composers. The seven works of Angelo Gilardino are more expansive, though full of character, testifying to the unique relationship between composer and performer: Porqueddu himself. The pieces by Alberto Franco and Franco Cavallone were also composed with Porqueddu in mind, while the Sonatina Lirica by Segovia’s English pupil John Duarte is a hidden gem. ‘a most compelling collection from five composers, none of whom were guitarists… coruscating variety, fine recorded sound and lovingly shaped playing.’ (MusicWeb International). ‘Porqueddu’s work is once more of excellent quality and shows how he is able to create individual interpretations of contemporary repertoire.’ (Seicorde).

As William Boughton celebrates his 70th birthday, we have put together this selection from his recordings for Nimbus and Lyrita. 'Every recording contains a story but, sadly, there is not the space to tell them all here so I've selected certain memorable, hopefully correct(!), experiences. Revisiting my early recordings reminded me of the joys and struggles that we encountered whilst developing the English String Orchestra (ESO), the development of our sound, our thinking and musicianship. Every recording is testament to a moment in time, to our responses and emotions during it's preparation and in the brief moment when the performance is created. Having been given this opportunity for a celebratory box-set I hope to avoid being too self conscious and remain objective in my comments and in the music I have chosen.' [William Boughton]

Civilizations are born, live, and die, and ours is no exception. If the pagan gods that inspired the construction of Stonehenge, Cheops, and the Parthenon are today relegated to pure mythology, is it reasonable to think that Christianity will be immortal? Studying these ruins makes it possible to think about civilizations and to face with discernment the dynamic of decadence that is imposed after 2,000 years of Judeo-Christianity. Michel Onfray presents here the historical origins of these belief systems. The philosopher details the birth of this common base of values forged by the fathers of the Church, more so than by Jesus, during the first centuries of our era, and who continue to define, in spite of themselves, the identity of our civilization.

The Hallé completes its highly regarded Ring cycle, with the live recording of its acclaimed Bridgewater Hall performance under Sir Mark Elder. “Roaring jubilation and radiant beauty from Elder and the Halle…. Elder is a superb Wagnerian, acutely conscious of the complex relationship between tempo and pace, and immaculate in his judgment both of the span of each act and the ebb and flow of detail within it. Thrilling climaxes alternated with moments of astonishing beauty and quiet, almost exquisite terror.” (The Guardian on the Halle’s performance of Siegfried) The third element of Wagner’s Ring cycle contains humor, drama and a concluding ecstasy as the eponymous hero meets his heroine Brünnhilde, setting up the explosive finale of the concluding opera. With enormous orchestral forces and dramatic use of leitmotiv themes the music portrays the full gamut of emotions and provides a perfect vehicle to display the heights of the Hallé’s powers under Elder. This production was recorded at the Bridgewater Hall, capturing all the drama of the acclaimed live performance.

Based on 33 years of scholarship and promotion by the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano and a lifetime of studies on the part of Francesco Sanvitale, this volume lives up to its predecessors in bringing to wider attention the work of a born songsmith, at home in the English and French tongues as well as his native Italian, and one who brought the genre of salon song to a peak of perfection. No one, not even the most dedicated Tosti singers such as Gigli and Caruso, had ever addressed Tosti’s oeuvre with anything near a comprehensive approach. Yet the chronological approach to his work taken by this project proves that he was certainly not confined within the limited universe of love requited, rejected, desired, misunderstood, suffered or unspoken. The songs in this third volume cover the last decade of the 19th century, by which time Tosti had settled in London, been appointed singing teacher to the royal family and to a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music. Despite their relative youth, the singers chosen to record this project are all Tosti experts, having won various editions of Ortona’s international voice competition devoted to the interpretation of drawingroom songs and ballads. Other actors of lesser skill almost always seem to be portraying the same person. Much the same thing can happen with music, but not here, thanks to the light, graceful and lively address of the singers to the wide range of poets set by Tosti, including Victor Hugo, Jules Barbier, Alfred de Musset and Frederic Weatherly as well as less-familiar lyricists such as Barry Cornwall and Ada Negri.

“It has been almost 50 years since I met Yo-Yo in the cafeteria at the Juilliard School… We became friends very quickly and a couple of years later played a benefit concert for a children’s orchestra... I believe that in the life and career of a musician, luck plays an enormous role. The great piece of luck in my musical life has been my partnership with Yo-Yo. I learned most of the standard cello repertoire with him, but through our work together I also learned an enormous amount about all the other music that I was playing – and about sharing my love of music with audiences. Our approaches to learning a new work together started at opposite ends quite often. Yo-Yo always saw the big picture, he thought first about the emotional impact. I often started by asking why the third eighth note in bar 2 had a dot, and the fourth one didn’t. Gradually, we met in the middle. For me, it was revelatory to work in his way, and I hope I did not annoy him too much with my persnickety questions!

"Our first recordings were the Beethoven Sonatas. We had played them in concert a number of times and thought that we could do a creditable performance on disc. I remember so well the thrill of seeing those LP covers; the pianist is now a white-haired old gentleman, and the cellist looks as young as ever! I am a great lover of Russian music, but never felt that I could play it properly. The albums of Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev are very special to me as they represent my attempts at music that I adore… When I look at the list of recordings that Yo-Yo and I have done together I feel enormously privileged to have shared in the journey of this unique artist. It was happenstance and great good fortune that gave me this gift, and I am grateful beyond measure for the time we have had together. I hope there are still some years left for me to keep learning from him, and that we continue to have fun exploring together.” (Emanuel Ax)

At the end of the 1920's and the beginning of the 30's, the German gramophone company Polydor issued a number of much sought after Brailowsky recordings, and even today the technical quality of these recordings as regards to resonance and tonality is astonishing. These old Berlin recordings, the matrices of which were unfortunately destroyed during the 1940-45 bombardment, must surely be some of the most inspiring; here the commercial 78 rpm pressings are presented in brand new digital transfers preserving the art of the "Keyboard Giant" Alexander Brailowsky, a Chopin player of rare distinction renowned for his prodigious technique and beautiful tone. The noted Russian-born French pianist, Alexander Brailowsky, studied first with his father, a professional pianist; then continued his training at the Kiev Conservatory, graduating with a gold medal in 1911. Following advanced studies with Leschetizky in Vienna from 1911 to 1914, and Ferruccio Busoni in Z�rich, he completed his training with Francis Plant� in Paris. To this day his Chopin Waltzes are considered authoritative and have seldom been outdone since he recorded them in the 1960s.

It was the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler who first gave Gottlob Frick the nickname "Der schwärzeste Bass". This accolade has been picked up time and again, gone through various manifestations, and become a sort of trademark of the German bass Gottlob Frick. That said, the attribute "black" is often applied to define the vocal range of a basso profundo's ability to produce sonorous deep notes. However, the definition of "black bass" means far more than that: it applies primarily to the deep, dark timbre, the rich and sonorous sound and the lasting flexibility of the voice even in the deep registers, paired with strength, momentum, natural resonance and abundant expression in the entire vocal range. "If you have ever heard the timbre of Gottlob Frick's voice, you will never forget it," as the German singing expert Jürgen Kesting accurately observed in his standard reference work "Die großen Sänger". Gottlob Frick is seen rightly therefore as the incarnation of the black bass. He is a German bass who, thanks to the many sound recordings he left us documenting his sonorous, unusually beautiful and fluently melodic singing, enjoys a popularity to this day that is probably unparalleled in this vocal register. One of the reasons the internationally renowned critic John B. Steane advanced to justify his inclusion of Gottlob Frick in his list of 100 most important singers in "Opera Now" is encapsulated in this fitting characterisation: "When it comes to the Wagnerian basso profundo, the only name in recent times that matters" – by which he means the 1940s to 1980s – "is that of Gottlob Frick: a tower of strength in the strongest ensemble and one of the greatest basses of all time. His voice is steady despite its powerful capacity, supple and splendid. Frick's two-and-a-half-octave bass is remarkably well trained and remains constant through its entire spectrum. He has a strong sense of rhythm and he can sing both legato and staccato in exemplary manner, without depriving his listeners of that rich timbre of his."

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Also available on standard DVD

“There had never been a communicator about music with anywhere near Bernstein’s brilliance, humor, energy, reach and importance.” (The New York Times) “Leonard Bernstein did this better than anyone. He was brilliant - as a musician and as an ambassador for music.” (Whoopie Goldberg) Young People’s Concerts Vol. 1 comprises 17 episodes of the legendary series, which remains unmatched until today. Awarded three Emmys and hailed by Variety as “a rare moment in the symbiosis of the arts and broadcasting”, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts left their mark on television history. Aired at prime-time on CBS from 1958 to 1972, 52 one-hour programs were written and hosted by Leonard Bernstein, “certainly the most influential American maestro of the 20th century” (The New York Times). With the New York Philharmonic and guest artists providing the live music, these programs brought musical concepts and music history to life for generations of viewers. Volume 1 includes 17 Episodes - The Concerts Nos. 1-14 plus Young Performers Nos. 1-3 (featuring Seiji Ozawa and Lynn Harrell)

This new release features a fresh interpretation of Bach's masterly cycle The Well-Tempered Clavichord by Heidrun Holtmann. Heidrun Holtmann was born in Germany where she began her musical education at the age of four. Five years later she was accepted by the Music Academy of Detmold, where she worked with Renate Kretschmar-Fischer and completed her studies with highest honors. She was awarded several prizes at national and international competitions. Appearances with conductors such as Antal Dorati, Ivan Fischer, and David Zinman followed, and she performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and many other symphony and chamber orchestras in Germany and abroad. Her discography includes the complete works for piano and orchestra by Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven's Third and Fourth Piano Concertos in chamber music versions dating from the nineteenth century and several solo albums spanning a wide repertoire ranging from Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, and Szymanowski as well as works from the contemporary repertoire.

Alan was a complete musician - a composer, performer, teacher, and a person of extraordinary natural musicality. Small wonder then that he was viewed with profound respect by all those within the musical profession who were privileged to come into contact with him... As a pianist one was struck by his innate rhythmic verve, a facet which indeed radiated through all his compositions - but perhaps the quality above all else that will be remembered was that which can best be described as a mezzo voce bel canto, the realisation of a choice and refined ear, and the product of a deep thinker and inner tranquillity'. It is that satisfying synergy of elegant lyricism and rhythmic energy which distinguishes the keyboard works of pianist and composer Alan Richardson. (Paul Conway)

Lorin Maazel (1930–2014) was perhaps the most interesting musician of his time. The very number of his engagements as Principal Conductor made him exceptional. After studying piano, violin, harmony, counterpoint and composition, and making his first appearances as a youthful conductor in the USA, where his family had moved from France in 1932, he played the violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and studied philosophy, economics, literature, French and Russian in his spare time. He went to Italy on a scholarship in the early 1950s, was repeatedly engaged – often by broadcasting stations – as a conductor, was the first American and at the same time the youngest conductor at the Bayreuth Festival when he conducted Lohengrin there in 1960, made his BBC concert debut with Mahler’s Second Symphony in London and directed the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin as its Principal Conductor (1964-75), was appointed General Music Director of the city’s Deutsche Oper (1965-71), then headed the Cleveland Orchestra (1972-82), the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988-96), Orchestre National de France (1988-90) and finally from 1993 the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio. He made his New York Met debut with Don Giovanni (1962) and debuted at the Salzburg Festival with The Marriage of Figaro (1963). He made a memorable appearance in London in 1988 when in a single day he performed all nine Beethoven symphonies with three different orchestras in aid of charity.

“The Turkish pianist Idil Biret celebrated her 75th birthday in November 2016. To approach and honor this milestone, her own label (IBA), distributed by the now-venerable Naxos, has been releasing a series of comprehensive sets traversing her entire career. The word “comprehensive” is not used lightly; in this set alone, the ninth in the series, we hear performances from her earliest radio broadcasts in 1949 to July of 2016, allowing Biret’s changing approaches to these composers’ works full documentation and exploration; it’s quite a journey, and I have heard no other pianist that has made the complex but still intuitively simple interpretive decisions Biret has made. With these enduring compositions as multisided sculptures to be reexamined, the set constitutes a voyage through the developing art of a child prodigy. It goes a long way toward answering questions about where the preternaturally gifted interpreter goes when convention and career opportunity become subservient to artistic pursuit. May it be an example to those embarking on a similar journey.” (Prof. Marc Medwin)

“Nobody plays the piano better than Leonard Pennario,” wrote the eminent critic Andrew Porter in London’s New Statesman in 1952, when the competition would have included none less than Horowitz in his prime. That year, Pennario began recording for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, and a decade later he moved to RCA Victor, for which label he made a series of distinguished albums. To mark the tenth anniversary of Pennario’s death, Sony Classical is now pleased to reissue all of the pianist’s RCA recordings together for the first time in a single box.

Born in 1924 in Buffalo, New York, Pennario gave his first public performance there at the age of seven, later moving with his family to Los Angeles, where his teachers included the legendary Isabella Vengerova. His breakthrough came in 1936, when he made his orchestral debut deputizing for an indisposed soloist with the Dallas Symphony. On that memorable occasion, the twelve-year-old performed the Grieg Piano Concerto, a work he had never heard, let alone played, until a few days earlier.

Dazzling concertos would, of course, feature prominently in Pennario’s discography, and his first RCA Victor releases in 1964 included Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Franck Symphonic Variations with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (High Fidelity: “immense dexterity and bravura”) and the two Liszt concertos with René Leibowitz conducting the London Symphony (Gramophone: “magisterial accounts of both works … it is a constant delight to listen to his effortless brilliance and power … vivid ‘hi-fi’ recording”).

Among the acclaimed solo recital albums in this set are a collection of popular short pieces by Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Grieg, Falla, Debussy, Gershwin and Rachmaninoff which Pennario plays “with admirable care and impeccable taste” (High Fidelity) as well as both books of Debussy Préludes: “This is a most beautifully played set” (Gramophone).

Although Pennario became best known as a formidable virtuoso, he was also renowned for his performances of chamber music, and RCA documents his participation in the famous series given by Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky. Their performance of the Mendelssohn C minor Piano Trio was praised by High Fidelity for its “conception of restraint and grandeur … consistently maintained throughout all four movements”, and in the coupling of cello sonatas by Mendelssohn and Strauss, wroteGramophone, “Pennario plays admirably, matching Piatigorsky’s forceful musical characterization.”

REVIEW:

A notable characteristic of Pennario’s playing is his extraordinary articulation at extreme speed. As examples of transcendent technique and breathtaking clarity, the two Rachmaninov transcriptions on Disc 2 are hard to beat.

One could hardly complain about the quality of music-making here, yet without exception the piano could have been more forwardly placed. Was he too self-effacing for stardom? Too modest for his own good? Moot points, but Leonard Pennario demands to be heard, reassessed and, on this evidence alone, admitted to the piano Hall of Fame.

– Gramophone

SET CONTENTS:

DISC 1: 
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Franck: The Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra, M. 46
Litolff: Concerto symphonique No. 4, Op. 102: Scherzo
Piano: Leonard Pennario  
Conductor: Arthur Fiedler 
Orchestra: Boston Pops Orchestra 

DISC 2: 
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125
Piano: Leonard Pennario  
Conductor: René Leibowitz 
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  

DISC 3: 
J. Strauss Jr.- Pennario: Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437
Mendelssohn-Rachmaninoff: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61: No 1 Scherzo
Saint-Saëns-Liszt: Danse macabre, Op. 40
Shostakovich: The Age Of Gold Ballet, Op. 22b: Polka
Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33: March
Ravel: La Valse, M. 72
Kreisler-Rachmaninoff: Liebesleid
Gounod-Liszt: Faust: Waltz

DISC 4: 
Dvořák: 8 Humoresques, Op. 101, No. 7 in G-Flat
Tchaikovsky: 2 Pieces, Op. 10, No. 2: Humoresque
Rachmaninoff: 7 Morceaux de salon, Op. 10, No. 5: Humoresque in G
Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, No. 4: Polichinelle in F-Sharp Minor
Debussy: Children' Corner, L. 113, No. 6: Golliwog's Cake-walk
Gershwin: 3 Preludes, IGG 25
Schubert: Moments musicaux, D. 780, No. 3 in F Minor
Beethoven: Für Elise, WoO 59
Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37a, No. 11: On the Troika in E
Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 6 "To Spring"
Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 1 "Butterfly"
Falla: Piezas Españolas, IMF 10, No. 4: Andaluza
Rubinstein: 6 Soirées à Saint-Petersbourg, Op. 44, No. 1: Romance in E-Flat
Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces, Op. 19, No. 2: Scherzo humoristique in D

DISC 5: 
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 40
Piano: Leonard Pennario  
Conductor: André Previn 
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

DISC 6: 
Debussy: Préludes, Livre 1, L. 117

DISC 7: 
Debussy: Préludes, Livre 2, L. 123

DISC 8: 
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
R. Strauss: Burleske in D Minor
Piano: Leonard Pennario  
Conductor: Seiji Ozawa 
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra 

DISC 9: 
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 58
R. Strauss: Cello Sonata, Op. 6
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky  
Piano: Leonard Pennario 

DISC 10: 
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66
Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32
Turina: Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 35
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky  
Violin: Jascha Heifetz 
Piano: Leonard Pennario 

DISC 11: 
Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 70
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky  
Violin: Jascha Heifetz 
Piano: Leonard Pennario 

DISC 12: 
Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65
Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor, M. 7, FWV 7
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky  
Violin: Jascha Heifetz 
Piano: Leonard Pennario 

These discs are hybrid Super Audio CDs playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Wilhelm Furtwängler are among classical music’s most compelling sound documents. Created at the peak of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwängler’s artist personality is conveyed more vividly than anywhere else. What can be heard is music in which inspiration and the expressive will know no bounds and in which, not least, the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. For the first time, the Berlin Philharmonic are releasing a complete edition of these recordings.

Wilhelm Furtwängler is accorded almost mythical status to this day. Biographically and artistically rooted in the 19th century, he embodies a bridge to the late-Romantic period and the founding years of the Berlin Philharmonic, whose chief conductor he was from 1922.

Furtwängler’s auratic charisma stems from an intriguing basic interpretive concept which avoided authoritarian gestures and deliberately aimed at the blurring of tonal contours. The result was a warm, mixed sound, in which developments and intensifications never appear calculated, but seem to grow organically.

This edition not only brings together all surviving radio recordings of the period, but also draws on the best available material – in particular, original tapes, which were taken to the Soviet Union after the war and only returned to Germany from the early 1990s onwards. Especially for this edition, the recordings have been carefully restored, digitally sampled using state-of-the-art technology, and remastered in 24-bit resolution. A total of 21 concerts are presented here, in whole or in part. The edition’s features include numerous historical photos, articles on the history behind the recordings, plus an extensive essay by the American musicologist Richard Taruskin on Furtwängler’s art – all of which results in a release which provides an opportunity to discover and relive this great chapter in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker in all its facets as never before.

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REVIEW:

Do you want this box? Yes, you do. Is it worth it? Again, yes, almost certainly, it is. For one thing, these are the recordings that have come, more than any other, to define this conductor’s identity, and his legacy. The audio restoration does wonders for the piano concertos in particular. These are the concerts that, so they said later, made life worth living for many Berliners. They matter.

– Gramophone

During his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was best known as an organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred pieces for the instrument, both liturgical and secular, and explored most of the genres that existed at the time. He is considered to be the apex of the 17th century’s south German organ school and generally one of the most important composers of the middle Baroque. His sphere of activity included central and southern Germany (modern Bavaria, Thuringia and Stuttgart), as well as important formative years in Vienna in his early 20s, during which he absorbed the Habsburg Empire’s dominant Italian and south German influences. The southern organ-builders’ emphasis on manual divisions is also apparent in much of Pachelbel’s liturgical organ music, which is relatively simple and written for manuals only. With this 13-disc set covering Pachelbel’s pivotal contributions to the chorale prelude, fugue and variation forms, internationally acclaimed organist Simone Stella adds another milestone to his already prolific discography of baroque keyboard music surveys on Brilliant Classics.

REVIEW:

The organ used here has much greater possibilities in variety of tonal colors, and Stella uses it to fine effect in the many fugues and chorale variations – and, it must be said, the music is in need of it. Pachelbel’s technique for toccatas is also consistent; based on pedal notes, the keyboard figurations of parallel 3rds, 6ths and 10ths predominate. Although not difficult to improvise, Pachelbel is always surprising in his modulatory shifts and textural changes.

-- Choir & Organ

There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension. The complete recording of all five works with Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Simon Rattle was one of the most spectacular projects of the Berliner Philharmoniker during the Rattle era – and at the same time the highlight of the collaboration between the orchestra and the pianist, which began in 1984. The performances were given a rapturous reception in the auditorium and in the press – as one critic wrote, the audience was overwhelmed by a “collective sense of happiness”. With vibrant freshness, the performances brought the whole combative energy of these works to life. At the same time, they revealed Beethoven’s incomparable spirituality, which – according to Mitsuko Uchida – “allows us to see to the end of the universe”.

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REVIEW:

Uchida takes enormous care over articulation, clarity, voicing and dynamics. And this is true in the simplest passages as well as the most virtuoso. Uchida’s fastidious articulateness makes every stitch count, yet her phrasing is generous, so the detail always remains in its rightful place as part of a larger unfolding. What’s most valuable about these performances, I think, is their exploration of the music’s dramatic potential.

– Gramophone

Premier si�cle; One Century of Music celebrates the centenary of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The boxset contains a collection of rare radio recordings that have never been released before, spanning French, German, Russian and twentieth-century repertoire. A unique asset of Premier si�cle is the 1943 recording of the musical legend Les Armaillis (1906) by Swiss composer Gustave Doret. The album showcases the rich history and musical development of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and contain performances by all it's musical directors, from founding father Ernest Ansermet until current musical director Jonathan Nott, including all their intermediate colleagues: Paul Kletzki, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Armin Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Pinchas Steinberg, Marek Janowski and Neeme J�rvi. The release comes with a voluminous, full-color booklet with texts on the orchestra's history and the repertoire presented in English, French and German as well as unique photos and archival materials.