For his debut recording, on the prestigious Decca Australia label, Australian pianist Calvin Abdiel presents three technically complex piano works by three exemplary Romantic composers. All works are based on the theme/variation form. For Schumann’s fiendishly challenging Etudes symphoniques, Calvin adds his own interpolated sequence of the posthumous variations. The equally demanding Liszt showpiece based […]
Michael Tilson Thomas’s complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon (1970–2003) and Argo (1992–1995) encapsulate the conductor’s restlessly exploratory nature and masterful handling of the modern orchestra. The recordings in this collection demonstrate his superb ear for complex rhythms and textures, an orchestral builder, as well as an inspired interpreter of the widest imaginable range of music. […]
A meeting of minds in Amsterdam: the complete Philips recordings of Sir Colin Davis and the Concertgebouworkest made in the orchestra’s acoustically optimal home and featuring classic accounts of Haydn, Berlioz, Dvořák and Stravinsky. Davis lends these readings rhythmic impetus and unassuming authority; the orchestra and audio engineers respond with sonic warmth and transparency. LIMITED […]
Astounding debuts and legendary piano treasures on disc: newly remastered albums of 21 pianists from the analogue era, including many first-ever digital transfers. Before he became a Decca icon, Vladimir Ashkenazy appeared on DG in performances recorded live at the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Their reissue here is complemented by a Rachmaninoff sequence with […]
An Original Jackets treasury of analogue-era pianism by legendary and lesser-known names from the catalogues of American Decca and Westminster. Spanning 1950 to 1963 – Clara Haskil in Scarlatti to Guiomar Novaes in Chopin and Debussy – the recordings in this set document the end of some distinguished careers (notably Benno Moiseiwitsch and Egon Petri) […]
Long out of print, Deryck Cooke’s invaluable ‘Introduction to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen’ reappears on CD, with its original LP couplings of Siegfried Idyll and Kinderkatechismus. Almost as soon as it reached completion with the release of Die Walküre in 1966, the Decca Ring cycle conducted by Sir Georg Solti was recognised as the […]
Collected for the first time and newly remastered, the complete Decca and L’Oiseau-Lyre recordings (1931-78) of Alfredo Campoli, including unpublished tracks and many items never reissued on Decca. Born into a family of professional musicians in 1906, Alfredo Campoli rapidly took to the violin, and before he turned eighteen, he was already secure in eleven […]
‘Fire-eating virtuoso’ is how Stereo Review described the finales of the Rachmaninoff concertos recorded by pianist Rafael Orozco (1946–1996) with Edo de Waart. Collected here are the complete Philips recordings of one of Spain’s piano aristocracy, winner of the 1966 Leeds Piano Competition. There is passion and poetry in equal measure, and an instinctive feeling […]
From a landmark Janáček album to previously unissued Schubert, this collection presents the Deutsche Grammophon, British and American Decca, and Westminster legacy of Rudolf Firkušný (1912–1994), acclaimed by Stereo Review as ‘the outstanding champion of Czech piano music on the international circuit’. LIMITED EDITION. SINGLE PRESSING ONLY. Released 28 June 2024
‘Jeonghwan showed us why he was the winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition in a performance that had lyricism and explosive virtuosity in equal measure,’ wrote the Sydney Arts Guide. Born in Seoul in 2000, Jeonghwan Kim began playing the piano at the age of six. In the following years, his numerous first prizes […]
Taking Second Prize at the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition, the Belarussian pianist Uladzislau (Vladislav) Khandohi stunned jury and audience members alike with phenomenally precise and committed accounts of repertoire from Schubert via Chopin and Prokofiev to Mark Grandison. His solo-repertoire performances from the competition are presented here in an album which will cause pianophiles […]
Sonatas by Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Janáček display the artistry and pianistic firepower of Wynona Wang in live performances from the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition, in which she was a popular finalist. As a finalist at The Sydney, Wang demonstrated a questing musical mind in her chosen solo repertoire. The Beijing-born, Juilliard-trained pianist explored […]
