Historical Recordings - up to 25% off

Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903–1991) was described at various times as ‘Prince’, ‘Emperor’ and ‘King’ of the keyboard, conveying something of the awe in which he was held.

Few artists of any generation prompted such consistent praise, a pianist who embraced virtually every part of the repertoire, including marathon cycles of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Liszt.

Both these broadcast recordings are sourced from the original WDR tapes and not from dubious copies (Chopin Concerto) and have been remastered to a very high standard. In Chopin’s E minor Concerto, Arrau is partnered by Otto Klemperer, another legendary titan in this rare 1954 recording.

Here they create a musical place where there is no sense of an early lightweight alternative to Chopin’s later works. Critic Jed Distler wrote: “There is an emotional freshness and freedom from clichés that draws me into the playing, particularly in the vibrancy and note-to-note intensity of his best live performances. Idealised or not, Arrau's playing boasts a vibrancy and forward-moving sweep that sharply contrasts to his relatively measured studio recording”.

The Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 shows Arrau playing with great freedom in this ‘live’ account from 1959 following his first studio recording in 1955. This recording appears for the very first time on CD.

Otto Klemperer (1885–1973) was widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century along with his compatriots, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter. These performances date from 1955, a period when Klemperer was at his most authoritative, spending a number of seasons guest conducting in Cologne with great success. As a result, he became principal conductor of the Philharmonia in London in 1959 following the departure of Herbert von Karajan for Berlin.

Both Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream and Beethoven Symphony No.8 are sourced from the original WDR tapes and have been superbly remastered. They appear for the first time on CD.

The Mendelssohn performance, with its wonderful clarity, like the Beethoven Symphony No.8, is in general faster than the studio made recording in 1960.

Käthe Möller-Siepermann was a regular performer at Cologne Opera while Hanna Ludwig also performed there and at other houses in Germany as well as further afield. She retired in 1968 to pursue pedagogical and lecturing opportunities.

One of today’s most-admired singers, Diana Damrau, was a pupil of Ludwig’s.

The American pianist Julius Katchen (1926–1969) was a child prodigy who at age 11 performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. In 1946 Katchen toured Europe, settled in Paris in late 1947 and became a frequent performer on the European concert platform.

His technique was ‘gold plated’ and despite his early death at aged 43 from cancer, he had a large discography which still sells today. In December 1968 he famously participated in the two-day spectacular known as the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus, playing the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata K545 and Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from El amor brujo.

Katchen made a major study of Brahms during his career and this 1967 live broadcast of Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, with the distinguished German conductor Rudolf Kempe, reflects his deep understanding of this composer.

This recording gives the collector the rare opportunity of hearing Katchen ‘live’ in comparison to his studio account made much earlier in 1959.

The fill-ups consist of familiar Katchen composers, Chopin and Liszt but also two new additions to his discography, Schumann's Prophet Bird Op.82, No.7 and Albéniz’s Triana.

Completing this CD is a rare interview with John Amis where Katchen discusses his early life including his thoughts on Mozart and Brahms interpretation.

These recordings have never been released before and have been remastered using ICA’s Ambient Mastering process which recreates the atmosphere of the concert hall.

Carlo Maria Giulini (1914–2005) was without question, along with fellow Italians Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata and Guido Cantelli, one of the greatest conductors of his generation. His opera performances at Covent Garden were landmarks for the Company, notably Verdi's Don Carlos, Falstaff, Il trovatore and La Traviata.

This 1960 performance of Rossini's sparkling Il barbiere di Siviglia features a stellar cast consisting of a youthful Teresa Berganza as Rosina and Luigi Alva as The Count, who had been asked by Giulini immediately after his 1955 debut at La Scala, Milan, to sing the Count in a legendary La Scala production headed by Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi. This was his Covent Garden debut. The baritone Rolando Panerai as Figaro had been a stalwart of La Scala since 1951, while Fernando Corena as Dr Bartolo was making his Covent Garden debut but was already a major international figure. He had sung regularly at the Metropolitan Opera since 1954.

The critic of The Times said of Berganza’s Rosina, ‘She is young, vivacious and Spanish. What more can anyone ask of Rosina?’ Equally excellent was his report on Alva’s Count, which he described as being ‘acted with gusto and resource and without a rough note in his voice’. The result was once again brilliant: ‘…this too was an ideal characterisation in music’. Panerai’s Figaro was notable for ‘a fine voice of ample power and easy delivery, versatile in inflection and infectious in comedy’. Corena was also felt to be in ‘commanding voice’, and Vinco’s singing was ‘sardonic enough for anything’.

This is a very rare recording which has never appeared commercially before.

Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997) is acknowledged today as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century along with his great Russian contemporaries, David Oistrakh, Emil Gilels and Mstislav Rostropovich.

This rare broadcast recording makes its first appearance on CD.

The June 1967 recital at the Royal Festival Hall very much reflects the pianist’s personal taste, containing the rarely played Haydn and Weber Sonatas together with the Schumann Novelettes with the more popular additions of Chopin and Debussy.

He declared, ‘my principle is to play only works that I really love and not just those that are currently accepted’.

Of all the Haydn Sonatas that Richter played, No.62 featured more frequently in his programmes as did the Weber Sonata No.3, which he regarded in a notebook entry in 1990 as a ‘highly original work and I like it a lot’.

The two Schumann Novelettes were often played in the 1960s though Richter did not perform No.8 for the following two decades. With the Chopin and Debussy, Richter is on familiar territory, which he invests with his characteristic imagination and spontaneity.

Superb Ambient Mastering recreates the atmosphere in the Royal Festival Hall perfectly.

Emil Gilels (1916–1985), along with Sviatoslav Richter, was one of the most celebrated pianists of the 20th century.

These rare broadcast recordings make their first appearance on CD.

The live recording of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4 from the 1966 Edinburgh Festival together with the distinguished accompaniment of Sir John Barbirolli produce a performance of great poetry, imagination and power. Gilels had a wonderful, discriminating ear and throughout the concerto brings a chamber music quality to his playing when the score demands.

Gilels recorded the work in the studio in 1957 and 1968 but there are very few live performances available where the pianist is ‘caught on the wing’ in good sound.

The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 in the abridged version by Siloti from 1959 brings out Gilels’ incredible technique and virtuosity (The New York Times dubbed him ‘the little giant’) with Kirill Kondrashin transforming the LPO into an authentic Russian-sounding orchestra.

Ambient Mastering adds an extra dimension to these distinguished performances recorded over 45 years ago.