Frédéric François Chopin

This fourth instalment in the Naxos series of Rubinstein’s middle period Chopin recordings (after the two Piano Concertos on 8111296, the Polonaises on 8111346 and the Waltzes and Impromptus on 8111365) presents recordings from the two extreme ends of the period. The Sonata and Preludes were recorded in 1946 and first issued on 78 rpm discs, while the remaining selections were recorded on tape in 1957 and 1958. When the recording of the Preludes, Rubinstein’s only committal of the work to disc, was issued in the UK in 1955, Gramophone declared: ‘As a whole, this masterly performance is the best we have had so far of Chopin’s great work’.

Reissue Producer & Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

For the main work on this album of American recordings made at the time of the Great War, Bach’s Double Concerto in D minor (slightly abridged to fit on three 78rpm sides, Kreisler is joined by the Russian violinist Efrem Zimbalist. The Appendix features three tracks with soprano Geraldine Farrar and the only surviving recording of Kreisler-as-pianist, playing Dvorak’s Humoresque.

Producer and Audio Restoration Producer: Ward Marston

An improbable series of masks and Carnival scenes from 1843-46, played by the Czech pianist Slávka Pěchočová: the very essence of Romantic piano.

After graduating from the conservatory in Pardubice under the guidance of Martin Hršel, Slávka Pěchočová studied with Ivan Moravec. She also participated in master classes given by Nelly Akopian and, in 2002 completed the graduate programme at the Royal College of Music in London. Pěchočová has played with various orchestras, at home and abroad, conducted by Libor Pešek, Jiří Bělohlávek, Martin Turnovský, Jakub Hrůša, et al. In the summer of 2009 she was a guest soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London during the Proms. Pěchočová also pursues chamber music: she plays in the Spring duo and the Kinsky Trio Prague. Her 2010 recording of Janáček for Praga Digitals was enthusiastically received.

It’s hard to believe that Martha Argerich is now approaching her 70th birthday – on 5 June this year. She has been recording for Deutsche Grammophon for 50 years, and has made some of the greatest recordings on the label, now fully documented on The Martha Argerich Collection capboxes (Solo Recordings, Concerto Recording, Chamber Ensemble Recordings).

Three generously filled CDs (nearly 240 minutes of music) portray the incredible virtuosity, style and range of this incomparable artist. We follow her solo and concerto career that is gradually subsumed in recordings with musical partners like Nelson Freire, Stephen Kovacevich, Mischa Maisky and Gidon Kremer – Argerich’s five decades of recording with DG and Philips (Decca) are surveyed in a magnificent chronological sweep.

Recorded in the mythical Salle de Musique at La-Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, this is the first solo recital of Evgeni Bozhanov (°1984), the Bulgarian pianist who has been shaking the piano world for over a year. At the major international competitions in which he has taken part since 2009, always reaching the finals, nobody remained indifferent – neither jury members nor public – to this exceptionally gifted pianist, seated in a low position and drawing unbelievable sounds from his piano.

Whether in Warsaw (Chopin 2010), Fort Worth (Van Cliburn 2009) or Brussels (Queen Elisabeth 2010), he produced a resolutely personal sound, notably in Chopin. Thanks to his Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, awarded on 1st June 2010, Evgeni Bozhanov was given the opportunity to leave a trace of his so original art with Fuga Libera, in coproduction with the bank BNP Paribas Fortis, who chose him as their laureate for 2010-11 for a private concerts series.

Close your eyes, listen and discover!

This is the only available all Chopin recital by Weissenberg. It includes a complete performance of the Third Sonata and ten Nocturnes. These are essential Weissenberg interpretations. As one reviewer wrote: “This is NOT for the faint-hearted!”

This is a selection of some of Chopin’s smaller works including Nocturnes, Waltzes, the Polonaise in C sharp minor and Cantabile in B flat major. Andreas Frölich has won many international prizes and has performed in concert halls around the world.

Paul Badura-Skoda writes: 'This selection made from live recordings in the years between 1965 an 1983 presents a cross section from my best concerts in these years with a repertoire usually not affiliated with my name.'

Martha Argerich was born on 5th June 1941 in Buenos Aires. Her interest in the piano showed itself when she was three. Vincenzo Scaramuzza, her teacher, impressed on her the importance of feeling and the singing lyrical line – a facet of her playing which remains immediately recognisable. At the age of eight she made her debut concert playing Beethoven’s first concerto and the following year she gave Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 and Bach’s French Suite in G, BWV 816.

In 1955 her family moved to Europe so that Martha could study with Friedrich Gulda in Austria; in this she was supported by the Argentine government who gave her parents diplomatic posts in their Embassy in Vienna. She won both the Geneva Music and Ferruccio Busoni International Competitions in 1957, but it was her winning the seventh Chopin Piano competition in Warsaw that confirmed her as a major talent at the age of 24.

Her formidable technique has often been compared to that of Horowitz. She is reputed to have learnt Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit in three days having been told it was extremely difficult. Her solo career lasted for a quarter of a century during which her talent for interpreting the romantic classics, notably Chopin and Liszt, were matched by her brilliance in the 20th century masters Ravel, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Messiaen. Her decision to limit her performances to chamber music and concerto was taken, as she admitted in interviews, to her feeling of loneliness on stage alone. This has been her career path for the last 30 years and she retains the aura of one of the most brilliant of all pianists of modern generations.

She has been particularly generous in supporting the next generation of artists.

She appears regularly as a jury member at important competitions and her friends and protégées captivate audiences with exquisite performances of chamber music at her festival at Lugano. Now at the age of 70 we can salute her as the phenomenon she undoubtedly is and wish her continued success in all aspects of her life.

These recordings were originally recorded for Denon and are now available on CD for the first time in nearly 20 years.

These are the only recordings of the Chopin Preludes by Jean-Yves Thibaudet.