Piano Library
Westminster & American Decca Edition [21CD Box Set]
An Original Jackets treasury of analogue-era pianism by legendary and lesser-known names from the catalogues of American Decca and Westminster.
21CD Limited Edition.
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) and the early flourishing of others, such as Jörg Demus and Nina Milkina. Classic examples of German, Russian, French, Hungarian, Romanian and American pianism illustrate the characteristics of their national schools, but most of all underline the personal artistry of musicians such as Haskil and Moiseiwitsch who always turned a phrase or a chord and made it their own.
The four solo LPs for Westminster recorded in 1956 by Raymond Lewenthal marked his return to the studio after an assault which had left him unable to play for several years. He would go on to become an early champion on record of the late-Romantic, ultra-virtuoso style, but these Westminster LPs capture him in repertoire from Beethoven sonatas and Scriabin preludes to popular encores.
Excerpts from some of these LPs have appeared on CD before, but not the full albums as originally sequenced. This is also true of the treasurable August 1961 sessions in New York made by Benno Moiseiwitsch, playing inimitably inflected accounts of Beethoven, Schumann and Mussorgsky. There is a first-time CD release for Petri’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, alongside its original LP couplings of the ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Appassionata’, plus the ‘Hammerklavier’ and Busoni’s Fantasia contrappuntistica from the same sessions in June 1956.
Petri’s aristocratic and intellectual style could hardly be more contrasted with the spontaneous rubato of the Brazilian pianist Guiomar Novaes, in Chopin’s Barcarolle. A trio of previously unissued Chopin Mazurkas makes a precious addition to the legacy of the French pianist Youra Guller. Jörg Demus is now esteemed for his Bach and Beethoven, but his mastery of Franck and Fauré has been forgotten. Each of these LPs tells its own story, of a forgotten pianist or a little-known recording, and the piano-specialist Mark Ainley supplies valuable context with new booklet appreciations of each artist.
LIMITED EDITION
CD 1
FRANCK Prélude, Choral et Fugue
Prélude, Aria et Final
JÖRG DEMUS
CD 2
FAURÉ Impromptus Op. 25*, 31, 34*, 91 & 102
Thème et Variations
Barcarolle, Op. 70
Nocturne, Op. 63 No. 6
JÖRG DEMUS
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 3
LISZT Soirées de Vienne
EDITH FARNADI
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 4
Johann Strauss Waltz Paraphrases
GODOWSKY Symphonic Metamorphosis on Künstlerleben
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Wein, Weib und Gesang
DOHNÁNYI Schatz-Walzer (Der Zigeunerbaron)
SCHULHOF Pizzicato Polka
EDITH FARNADI
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 5
SCARLATTI Keyboard Sonatas
Kk. 247, 2, 132, 35, 193, 386, 519, 322, 87, 515, 437
CLARA HASKIL
CHOPIN Mazurkas
F minor, Op. 7 No. 3; D flat major, Op. 30 No. 3; C major, Op. 56 No. 2
YOURA GULLER
PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED - FIRST RELEASE
CD 6
BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata Nos. 8, 14 & 23
RAYMOND LEWENTHAL
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 7
SCRIABIN Fantasy; Vers la flamme
5 Préludes, Op. 74
24 Préludes, Op. 11
RAYMOND LEWENTHAL
CD 8
Moonlight and Keyboard
DEBUSSY Clair de lune (from Suite bergamasque)
LISZT Liebestraum No. 3 in A flat major
SAINT-SAËNS–GODOWSKY Le Cygne (from Carnaval des animaux)
RACHMANINOFF–LEWENTHAL Zdes’ khorošo
BRAHMS Waltz in A flat major, Op. 39 No. 15*
CHOPIN Nocturne in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2*
CHOPIN Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2*
TRADITIONAL/LEWENTHAL Greensleeves
CHOPIN Waltz in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2*
MASSENET Élégie (from Les Érinnyes)
RUBINSTEIN Romance in E flat major, Op. 44 No. 1
SCHUMANN Träumerei (from Kinderszenen, Op. 15)*
BEETHOVEN Adagio sostenuto (from Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight’)*
SCHUBERT–LISZT Ständchen (from Schwanengesang, D. 957)
MENDELSSOHN–LISZT Auf Flügeln des Gesanges
CHOPIN Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66 ‘Fantaisie-Impromptu’*
RAYMOND LEWENTHAL
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 9
Toccatas for Piano
DELLA CIAIA Toccata in G minor
J.S. BACH Toccata in C minor BWV 911
CZERNY Toccata in C major, Op. 92
ALKAN Toccatina in C minor, Op. 75
SCHUMANN Toccata in C major, Op. 7
PROKOFIEV Toccata, Op. 11
DEBUSSY Toccata (from Pour le Piano)
RAVEL Toccata (from Le Tombeau de Couperin)
JELOBINSKY Toccata in C major, Op. 19, No. 1
LEWENTHAL Toccata alla Scarlatti
MENOTTI Ricercare and Toccata on a theme from ‘The Old Maid and the Thief’
RAYMOND LEWENTHAL
CD 10
SCARLATTI Keyboard Sonatas
Kk. 190, 208, 396, 481, 447, 507, 450, 161, 29, 107, 125, 527
NINA MILKINA
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 11
C.P.E. BACH Keyboard Sonatas
F minor, H.173; A minor, H.247; A major, H.186; D major, H.286
NINA MILKINA
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 12
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 14 & 26; Andante favori
SCHUMANN Vogel als Prophet
BENNO MOISEIWITSCH
CD 13
SCHUMANN Kreisleriana; Kinderszenen
Romance, Op. 28 No. 2; Arabeske
BENNO MOISEIWITSCH
CD 14
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition
SCHUMANN Carnaval
BENNO MOISEIWITSCH
CD 15
CHOPIN Barcarolle, Op. 60
DEBUSSY Les collines d’Anacapri (Préludes, Livre I No. 5)
La soirée dans Grenade (from Estampes)
Poissons d’or (from Images, Livre II)
Minstrels (Préludes, Livre I No. 12)
LISZT Études de Concert, S.145
Liebestraum No. 3
Valse oubliée No. 1
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10
GUIOMAR NOVAES
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 16
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14* & 23
EGON PETRI
*FIRST RELEASE ON CD
CD 17
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas No. 29
EGON PETRI
CD 18
BUSONI Fantasia contrappuntistica
BACH–BUSONI Chorale Preludes:
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
In dir ist Freude
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
Nun freut euch, liebe Christen g’mein
BUXTEHUDE–PETRI Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ
BACH–PETRI
Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit
Minuet from Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedmann Bach
Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze)
EGON PETRI
CD 19
BACH–BUSONI
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, BWV 552
Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
EGON PETRI
CD 20
Liszt – The Famous Piano Transcriptions from Mozart to Mendelssohn
MENDELSSOHN–LISZT Wedding March and Elfin Chorus from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
GOUNOD–LISZT Valse de l’opéra Faust de Gounod, S. 407 – Paraphrase de concert
BEETHOVEN–LISZT Adelaïde
LISZT–BUSONI Mephisto Waltz No. 1; Fantasia on two themes from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, S. 697
EGON PETRI
CD 21
SCARLATTI Sonatas, Kk. 159 & 259
J.S. BACH Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F sharp major, BWV 858 (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I)
Two-Part Invention No. 11 in G minor, BWV 782
MOZART Piano Sonata No. 9 in D major, K. 311
CHOPIN Mazurkas Op. 41 No. 1 & Op. 17 No. 4
SCHUMANN Kinderszenen
CARLO ZECCHI
FIRST RELEASE ON CD