Frédéric François Chopin

Russian pianist Ilya Rashkovskiy debut disc on Alpha Omega Sound. His choice of programme concentrates on the wonderful form of pianistic composition by way of fantasies and sonatas by Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, and Scriabin. This is an excellent introduction to a new artist who is already gaining international acclaim through an ever increasing schedule of concerts

A child prodigy at age 6, 20-year-old Russian pianist Ilya Raskkovskiy won 1st Prize at the inaugural Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 2005. He also won second prize at the 2001 Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris and has since performed in several important concert venues in Europe, Japan and Russia, including the Bolshoi Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Theatre du Chatelet and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Symphony Hall in Osaka, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Concertos by Danzi, Benda, Hoffmeister, CPE Bach, A Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Telemann & Mozart.

Lang Lang’s first recording for Sony, the start of a new exclusive long-term partnership - recorded live at Vienna’s prestigious Musikverein earlier in 2010.

Lang Lang:

Heralded as the “hottest artist on the classical music planet” by the New York Times, 28- year-old Lang Lang began playing the piano at the age of 3, gave his first public recital aged 5, and won first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition at the age of 13. Since then he has become a global phenomenon, playing sold out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world.

Testimony to his success, Lang Lang recently appeared in the 2009 Time 100 – Time Magazine's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2008, over 5 billion people viewed Lang Lang’s performance in Beijing’s opening ceremony for the Olympic Games, and he has inspired over 40 million Chinese children to take up the piano – a phenomenon coined by The Today Show as "the Lang Lang effect." More recently, Lang Lang was chosen as an official worldwide ambassador to the 2010 Shanghai Expo. He has performed at prestigious events including at The White House and The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony.

Continuing his presence on the world stage, Lang Lang was featured at the 2008 Grammy Awards and the 2009 Classical Brit Awards, pairing up with jazz great, Herbie Hancock, for an astounding performance that was broadcast live to 45 million viewers worldwide.

Lang Lang has made it his mission to share classical music around the world, with an emphasis on training children and young musicians through education, outreach programs, master classes and financial support. He launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation in New York with the support of UNICEF. In May 2009, Lang Lang and his three chosen young scholars from the foundation performed together on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In addition to his numerous commitments, Lang Lang holds the title of the first Ambassador of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. His role in this groundbreaking project created by YouTube and Google reflects his devotion to building new audiences and bringing classical music to young people worldwide. A brand in himself, Lang Lang has become the face of numerous global campaigns. Steinway has created five versions of the “Lang Lang Steinway” designed for early music education - the first time in Steinway’s 150-year history that an artist’s name has been used to produce pianos. He is a global brand ambassador for the entire Sony Corporation, including its Electronics arm, with whom he anticipates achieving innovative and creative possibilities for the future. Lang Lang also holds brand partnerships with Audi Automobiles and Aegon's worldwide financial services, amongst others.Lang Lang’s performance clothes are provided by Versace.

In February 2010, Lang Lang joined Sony Music Entertainment as an exclusive recording artist.

His previous solo album (Janácek, Martinu, Kabelác; Supraphon SU39452) earned the young pianist Ivo Kahánek, one of the most remarkable talents of his generation, numerous enthusiastic responses on the part of the critics (“A great recital!” – Classics Today – rating 10/10; “He is a very special talent” – Fanfare).

With his new album, he has embraced the very core of the Romantic piano repertoire and in so doing pays tribute to Fryderyk Chopin. In addition to the paramount Sonata in B minor, Chopin’s most extensive work for solo piano, Kahánek performs Four Scherzi, composed throughout Chopin’s creative life.

Kahánek’s infectious musicality brings out the compositions’ poeticism, romantic upswing and virtuosity to the full – one often has the feeling that this is “merely” improvisation, a music originating from the sheer magic of the moment. The pianist’s credo is seeking his own path, yet consistently within the intentions of the composer’s score (according to Jan Ekier’s new edition).

Chopin pieces recorded on innumerable occasions ... yet somehow different, novel, inspired.

This fourth volume of late Cortot completes APR’s survey of the post-war recordings which the pianist made for EMI in the UK. We are now entering the era of tape recording, and apart from the Deutsche Ländler of 1951, all the other titles, which date from 1953-54, were recorded in this new medium. This gave the artist new freedom, as he was not restriced to the length of a 78rpm side for each take, and Cortot tackled much of his ‘big’ repertoire again. Sadly, by this time his failing health meant that many works remained unissued as they did not meet the standards of his earlier magnificent versions, however some old warehorses did stand the test of time, as can be heard in the Carnaval featured here. His playing may have become technically more fallible but the performances fully support the claim of the late Thomas Manshardt, one of Cortot's last pupils, that this period of Cortot's career "is his greatest in thought and warmth and mastery’.

The booklet contains a discography of all Cortot’s HMV sessions from 1953 to 1955.