Frédéric François Chopin

Reissue Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

It is not surprising that Lipatti achieved cult status in the years following his death at the age of 33. He was an extremely sensitive musician and a man whose approach to the piano was one of utter fastidiousness, always striving for perfection in every aspect of his interpretation and performance. Throughout this Besançon recital there is a clarity of sound, evenness of attack and scrupulous attention to gradation of dynamics, characteristic hallmarks of Lipatti’s playing. The fourteen Chopin Waltzes are played in the order that Lipatti chose for performance but, according to his wife, he was too physically weak to play the last Waltz in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1, so it is included here from his commercial recording of a few months before.

An intriguing release featuring Chopin in his mature period, Brahms in a romantic one, plus piano and accordion miniatures from contemporary Polish composer Niziurski. The disc is cleanly and sensitively drawn together by Marek Mizera and the The Świętokrzyski Accordion Duo.

For this recording, husband and wife duo Michael and Regine Kofler have chosen works which are dear to their hearts and they have regularly featured in their recitals. Many are existing arrangements, but they have arranged a few works themselves. They include compositions by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Ibert, Berthomieu, Fauré, Tournier, Rossini and Saint-Saëns.

The young Chopin was a master of self-marketing and performances of the first Piano Concerto with string quintet created a sensation, bringing him instant fame and more concert invitations than he could accept. Here, Gianluca Luisi performs on a carefully restored Steinway from 1901 which fits in ideally with the velvety sound of the Ensemble Concertant Frankfurt.

These 1945-1955 broadcasts of live collaborations between Claudio Arrau and George Szell are being released for the first time and stem from well preserved and carefully restored broadcast transcription discs. The works include Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1, Chopin Piano Concerto No.2 and Liszt Piano Concerto No.2. All are performed with dynamism, daring and volatility.

After a first dedicated to the School Lazare-Lévy (Tah 556-558 deleted) we are releasing this set illustrating the Schools of Isidore Philipp (Monique de la Bruchollerie, Youra Guller) and Alfred Cortot (Yvonne Lefébure, MagdaTagliaferro) which contains three previously unissued recordings. Furtherùmore it contains two rare documents with the voices of Lefébure recalling Ravel and of Tagliaferro speaking of Chopin. This is a complementary set to the album « Pianistes Françaises I » (Tah 653-4).

Performed by Felicja Blumental, this solo piano collection includes piano rarities such as Moniuszko's Spinning Girl, Szymanowski's Etudes and Preludes, Kabalewski and Kuhlau's Sonatines and Villa-Lobos' The Three Maries among others.

Rudolf Ganz (1876-1972) was one of the most remarkable Swiss musicians of the 20th-century, as pianist, teacher and conductor. From his earliest days he knew, performed and recorded music by the latest composers before World War I, and when he went to America he was conductor of the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestras for many years. He continued to give concerts in his 80s as a pianist, and the range of his achievements is considerable. This new CD is a magnificent tribute to a great musician, friend of Bartok, Korngold and Busoni - Ravel dedicated one of his most famous piano works to Ganz - and conductor who gave the world premieres of music by Copland and Elliott Carter, among many others. On this CD, we have recordings from piano rolls of 1913, and a very rare performance of Grieg's 'Holberg Suite' recorded in the USA in the late 1940s. There are rare photographs and the booklet notes are fascinatingly detailed. A most important record.

Includes footage from Ganz's 80th birthday interview on Lausanne Radio.

Frédéric Chopin Year 2010 coincides with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim’s stage début, and as a pianist he has decided to devote this year to the great Romantic master of the keyboard.

Chopin was born on 1 March 1810 in a small village near Warsaw, and on the eve of the 200th anniversary of this date Barenboim gave this wildly acclaimed Warsaw recital as part of an extensive European tour.

The program comprised some of the composer’s best-known works, including the great B flat minor Sonata with its famous Funeral March, which sounded to many “as the composer may well have imagined it”.

While Chopin used to advise his piano scholars to take singing lessons, Barenboim, as an experienced conductor of operas is most familiar with the human voice as well. With his brilliant virtuosity, he lead the audience through a most colorful program, once again proving his talent for this composer.

Picture Format Blu-Ray: HDCAM 1080/59,94

Sound Formats Blu-Ray: DTS HD Master Audio PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 90:45

Disc Format: BD 25

FSK: 0

Chopin’s youthful Piano Concerto No. 1 is dominated by the brilliant piano part that the performer-composer wrote to showcase his extraordinary talent. Eldar Nebolsin’s recording of Liszt’s piano concertos (8570517) was ranked ‘among the finest’ by Gramophone.

AUDIO Recorded and edited in HIGH DEFINITION 24-bit, 88.2 kHz PCM Surround.

Presented in HIGH DEFINITION 24-BIT 96 KHZ

DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 Surround

PCM Stereo 2.0

Total Running Time: 67.42