Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | The Great Pianists Volume 9 - Wilhelm BackhausMasters of the Piano Roll series
This series contains some of the greatest performances given by the finest pianists of the Early 20th Century. Some of the rolls these recordings are taken from are nearly 100 years old and come from a collection owned by Denis Condon who is one of the worlds most respected authorities on the piano roll and has some 18,000 in his collection. | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Paderewski - His earliest RecordingsThe complete European Recordings 1911-12
Chopin: | Waltz No. 2 in A flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 1 Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2 Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Polonaise No. 3 in A major, Op. 40 No. 1 'Military' Nocturne No. 18 in E major, Op. 62 No. 2 Étude Op. 25 No. 9 in G flat major 'Butterfly' Étude Op. 25 No. 3 in F major Mazurka No. 13 in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4 Nocturne No. 4 in F major, Op. 15 No. 1 Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor ‘Revolutionary' Étude Op. 10 No. 7 in C major Étude Op. 25 No. 1 in A flat major 'Aeolian Harp' Étude Op. 25 No. 2 in F minor Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major 'Tristesse' Zyczenie (The Maiden's Wish), Op. 74 No. 1 (arranged Liszt) Étude Op. 25 No. 7 in C sharp minor Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 | Debussy: | Reflets dans l'eau (No. 1 from Images pour piano - Book 1) | Liszt: | Etude de concert No. 2 in F minor | Mendelssohn: | Song without Words, Op. 53 No. 4 in F major Song without Words, Op. 19b No. 3 in A major 'Hunting Song' | Paderewski: | Minuet in G major, Op. 14 No. 1 Nocturne in B flat Op. 16 No. 4 Cracovienne fantastique, Op. 14 No. 6 | Paganini: | La Campanella
Hark, Hark, the Lark
(arranged Liszt) | Rubinstein: | Valse Caprice in E flat major | Schubert: | Ständchen 'Horch! Horch! die Lerch!', D889 (arranged Liszt) | Schumann: | Nachtstücke, Op. 23 No. 4 Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 No. 1 'Des Abends' Aufschwung, Op. 12, No. 2 Warum, Op. 12, No. 3 | Stojowski: | Chant d'Amour, Op. 26, No. 3 |
Paderewski was perhaps the most famous, and certainly the most highly paid, pianist who ever lived. In the years between 1890 and the First World War his fame reached levels now only reserved for the biggest pop stars and when he became prime-minister of Poland after the end of the war his deification was complete. He resumed his career in the 1920’s and continued to perform until his death. Unfortunately most of his recordings were made later in life and do not capture his playing in its prime, a fact which has somewhat damaged his posthumous reputation, so it is particularly important that these earliest recordings, which can redress the balance, are made available complete for the first time. This is playing very different in style from what we are used to today, but aside from its historic importance, taken on its own terms it is quite clear what a great communicator Padereswki was. And it’s good to be reminded in works like Liszt’s La Leggierezza study that at this point in his career there was nothing lacking in technique either. Several titles included are taken from Paderewski’s own test pressings of unissued discs held at the International Piano Archive, University of Maryland, and this is their first release. A must for collectors! “There are many wonderful, even matchless, performances here that, in addition, provide a welcome antidote to the text-before-personality cult that prevails today. When you listen to Paderewski the pianist you are also experiencing Paderewski the man.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2008 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Wild About Liszt
Albert, E: | Scherzo in F Sharp Major, Op. 16, No. 2 (2 performances) | Chopin: | Grande Polonaise Op. 22 | Liszt: | Ballade No. 2 in B minor, S171/R16 Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 4) Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 7) Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 7) Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 4) Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 5) (2 performances) Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 6) Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215/1 Mephisto-Polka, S217ii Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Fantasy & Fugue in G minor (J S Bach BWV542) for piano, S463 Symphony No. 1 (after Beethoven): excerpt Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera Widmung S566 after Schumann (Liebeslied) Mes joies – Nocturne d'après un chant polonais de Fr. Chopin, S480/5bis Die Lorelei Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 5 'La Chasse' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' (2 performances) Étude d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S. 140 No. 2 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Piano Sonata in B minor, S178 La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Un Sospiro from 3 Concert Studies, S144 No. 3 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 (2 performances) Etude de concert No. 2 in F minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 3 'Paysage' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 2 in A minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 9 'Ricordanza' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 10 'Appassionata' | Respighi: | Notturno | Wild: | Larghetto from the Piano Concerto No. 2 (after Chopin) |
DISC ONE: - 'Liszt the Poet' July 26, 1986 - 'Liszt the Transcriber' July 28, 1986 - Documentary on 'Wynyard' and Liszt July 24 - 28, 1986 DISC TWO: - 'Liszt the Virtuoso' July 30, 1986 - 'An Evening with Earl Wild' BBC-TV September 21, 1974 - CBS-TV Sunday Morning with Earl Wild 198 - Dutch TV interview with Earl Wild on the occasion of his 90th Birthday Concert in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw September 25, 2005 AUDIO TRACKS: - Earl Wild speaking to the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, November 6, 2003 - Mannes School International Keyboard Festival interview with Earl Wild - moderator Donald Manildi July 20, 2003 NYC - John Amis on BBC's 'Talking About Music' with guest Earl Wild 1986 - Sharon Eisenhour interviews Earl Wild on WUHY Philadelphia July, 1982 “Wild is a major pianist whose modesty has partly concealed what these two DVDs reveal: he is a staggering Liszt interpreter, and here we have many hours of his playing and talking. Unfortunately the discs are extraordinarily confusingly laid out.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 *** “Earl Wild (born 1915) is the last great representative of those pianists directly influenced by the playing of Rachmaninov and Hoffman: he has an all-encompassing repertoire; he composes; he transcribes; he has one of the finest mechanisms in history; he produces some of the most beautiful sounds you will ever hear from the piano (as he says himself, he was brought up to play as though every member of the audience were blind).
Among history's very greatest Liszt pianists, he is heard here in no fewer than three fulllength Liszt recitals. They were recorded before an audience over three evenings in July 1986 at Wynyard, the ancestral home of the Ninth Marquess of Londonderry, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Liszt.
'Liszt the Poet' includes the Ballade No 2, a wonderfully proportioned Dante Sonata, Funérailles and Mephisto Waltz No 1 with Wild's own and (in my opinion) much improved ending; 'Liszt the Transcriber' has 'hyphenated' Bach, Verdi, Schumann, Chopin, Paganini (stunning) and the Beethoven-Liszt Symphony No 1; 'Liszt the Virtuoso' is dominated by the B minor Sonata. Though not professionally filmed, the sound recording is quite acceptable while the picture quality is second generation video. There is also an enjoyable, homespun documentary of Wild's visit to Wynyard, the tour of the jaw-dropping estate and its immense house (boasting its own organ and played briefly by the pianist) conducted by the piano-loving Marquess himself.
On the second DVD is a 1974 BBC recital/ interview with the much-missed Robin Ray who elicits the memorable quote that 'the difference between playing a piece like the d'Albert Scherzo and, say, Beethoven Op 111 is that in the d'Albert you are a decorator; in the Beethoven you are an architect. A pianist should be able to be both.' There's an interview on the occasion of Wild's 90th birthday concert at the Concertgebouw and an additional 124 minutes of audio features: Wild lecturing (with some wickedly funny anecdotes) in 2003, interviewed by John Amis for the BBC in 1986 and Sharon Eisenhour for Philadelphia's WUHY station in 1982. What a cornucopia!” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies & Transcendental Etudes
“Cziffra, with his superb technique, Hungarian birthright and virtuoso flair, is the ideal exponent of this music and, predictably, there are wonderful things in these performances.” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |
|
