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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Menahem Pressler in RecitalRecorded at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, March 2011
For more than 50 years, Menahem Pressler was the driving force of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, giving 6.000 performances until the trio stopped concertizing in 2009. Menahem Pressler is now returning to a solo career. During this recital filmed at Paris’ Cité de la Musique 2011, Menahem Pressler plays two of the most imposing works in the piano repertoire: Beethoven’s penultimate sonata and Schubert’s last sonata which both require unusual emotional involvement from the performer. Menahem Pressler is the last representative of a pianistic tradition directly connected with the great German and French piano schools: he studied with several pupils of the illustrious Ferruccio Busoni but also received valuable advice from Robert Casadesus or Paul Loyonnet who opened the world of Ravel and Debussy to him. “Pressler’s ability to give all the voices prominence while simultaneously isolating the melody was amazing. His fingers still retain a youthful facility.” The Washington Post Picture format: 1080i 16:9 Sound formats: PCM Stereo Region code: all (worldwide) Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins “His technique may be somewhat dimmed, but the twinkle of his distinctive sound remains as fresh and beautiful as ever; so, too, his astute pointing of musical structure, and the sheer love with which he communicates these great works...Pierre-Martin Juban's straightforward, well-judged direction provides a fine match between style and subject.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Horowitz: The Legendary Berlin Concert18th May 1986
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| |  | Horowitz in Moscow
“In 1986 Horowitz returned to his native Russia for the first time in more than half a century. He's seen here performing, being interviewed and chatting with old family members. Touching and with some extraordinary playing.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 **** “The return to his homeland in 1986 by the world's most famous living instrumentalist after an absence of 61 years caught the public imagination. …the 83-year old Horowitz's arrival in Moscow prompted the kind of reception reserved usually for pop stars. Brian Large's Emmy Award-winning film captures all this well... Few have conjured from a piano such a palette of tonal colours with such convincing imagery and musical imagination as Horowitz does in this recital. The audience listens with rapt concentration. A man sits motionless with tears streaming down his face in Träumerei. Unforgettable.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2006 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vladimir Horowitz, Vol. 41930-1947
Barber, S: | Excursions Op. 20: Un poco allegro Excursions Op. 20: In slow blues tempo Excursions Op. 20: Allegro molto | Chopin: | Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Mazurka No. 27 in E minor, Op. 41 No. 2 Mazurka No. 32 in C sharp minor, Op. 50 No. 3 Nocturne No. 19 in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1 Étude Op. 10 No. 4 in C sharp minor Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G flat major 'Black Key' Étude Op. 10 No. 8 in F major Étude Op. 25 No. 3 in F major Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29 Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54 | Kabalevsky: | Prelude in C , Op. 38 No. 1 Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 38 No. 10 Prelude in A flat, Op. 38 No. 17 Prelude in G, Op. 38 No. 3 Prelude in B flat, Op. 38 No. 16 Prelude in F sharp minor, Op. 38 No. 8 Prelude in G minor, Op. 38 No. 22 Prelude in D minor, Op. 38 No. 24 | Poulenc: | Pastourelle Toccata (Trois pieces pour piano No. 2) | Prokofiev: | Toccata in D minor, Op. 11 | Stravinsky: | Danse Russe (from Pétrouchka) |
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| |  | Menahem Pressler in RecitalRecorded at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, March 2011
For more than 50 years, Menahem Pressler was the driving force of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, giving 6.000 performances until the trio stopped concertizing in 2009. Menahem Pressler is now returning to a solo career. During this recital filmed at Paris’ Cité de la Musique 2011, Menahem Pressler plays two of the most imposing works in the piano repertoire: Beethoven’s penultimate sonata and Schubert’s last sonata which both require unusual emotional involvement from the performer. Menahem Pressler is the last representative of a pianistic tradition directly connected with the great German and French piano schools: he studied with several pupils of the illustrious Ferruccio Busoni but also received valuable advice from Robert Casadesus or Paul Loyonnet who opened the world of Ravel and Debussy to him. “Pressler’s ability to give all the voices prominence while simultaneously isolating the melody was amazing. His fingers still retain a youthful facility.” The Washington Post Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sound formats DVD: PCM Stereo Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 88 mins “His technique may be somewhat dimmed, but the twinkle of his distinctive sound remains as fresh and beautiful as ever; so, too, his astute pointing of musical structure, and the sheer love with which he communicates these great works...Pierre-Martin Juban's straightforward, well-judged direction provides a fine match between style and subject.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 **** “at this recital one can only celebrate a blessedly old-fashioned freedom and intensity...Beautifully and simply filmed, this DVD is a classic tribute to a great artist still active in the autumn of his career, and with only a passing and marginal frailty to suggest his age.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Yevgeny Sudbin Plays Chopin
Chopin: | Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 Nocturne No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 Nocturne No. 13 in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1 Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Mazurka No. 23 in D major, Op. 33 No. 2 Mazurka No. 25 in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4 Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47 Mazurka No. 17 in B flat minor, Op. 24 No. 4 Mazurka No. 32 in C sharp minor, Op. 50 No. 3 Nocturne No. 16 in E flat major, Op. 55 No. 2 Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 | Sudbin: | À la minute (a paraphrase on Chopin’s Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1) |
Critically acclaimed pianist Yevgeny Sudbin here presents a recital of music from Fryderyk Chopin. Sudbin opens this disc with the expansive Fantaisie in F minor – sometimes described as the composer's 'grandest work' – continuing with a selection of pieces from three genres that are strongly associated with Chopin: Mazurkas, Nocturnes and the Ballades Nos 3 and 4. Sudbin’s approach to Chopin’s music has been influenced by the composer’s own words regarding interpretation: 'Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties.' In his own paraphrase of the composer’s Minute Waltz, entitled À la minute, Sudbin displays all of his skills that led Piano Magazine to describe him as 'a fearless technician with an all-encompassing command of his instrument; a musical dramatist of exceptional acumen and sophistication; a poet who moves seamlessly between unbridled rhetoric and extreme intimacy; a stylist who catches the particular spirit of everything he plays'. “Sudbin gets my vote right at the start here by opening his Chopin recital with the Fantasy in F minor, one of the pinnacles of the composer's art...Sudbin captures its improvisatory qualities and unexpected shifts of texture. It's a satisfying start to this disc by a thoughtful pianist. But he loses my vote in some of the Nocturnes and Mazurkas...He redeems himself with powerful, poetic performances of the Third and Fourth Ballades” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 *** “Sudbin is at his most convincing in those larger musical canvases, whose sense of theatricality, emotional range and formal complexities he projects very vividly; the haunted, dark-hued account of the Fantasy is particularly impressive. But the smaller pieces respond less well to Sudbin's treatment: it's not heavy-handed, but places extra expressive weight on pieces that need a much more refined and delicately coloured approach” The Guardian, 24th November 2011 *** “This glorious disc confirms Yevgeny Sudbin as one of the most searching and inspired of today’s pianists...The playing is so beautiful, so full of life and so rich in imagination that all one really wants to do is sit back and listen to it over and over again without necessarily analysing what it is that makes it feel so “right” and so stimulating...This is a disc not to be missed. It is a triumph.” The Telegraph, 26th November 2011 ***** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Daniel Barenboim: The Warsaw RecitalCelebrating Frédéric Chopin’s 200th birthday. Live from the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall
Chopin: | Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 'Marche funèbre' Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 Waltz No. 2 in A flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 1 Waltz No. 3 in A minor 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 2 Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz' |
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 “Not especially celebrated for his Chopin...Barenboim is - it goes without saying - a towering musician who is worth hearing here...Opening with the F minor Fantasia, Barenboim is on magisterial and musically imaginative form. His almost Lisztian approach to the B flat minor Sonata is excitingly turbulent”” BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 **** “The Barcarolle and sequence of three Waltzes are quite beguiling...a magnificent and genuinely impassioned account of the A flat major Polonaise...The neat, unfussy direction makes the film a pleasure to watch.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Daniel Barenboim: The Warsaw RecitalCelebrating Frédéric Chopin’s 200th birthday. Live from the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall
Chopin: | Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 'Marche funèbre' Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 Waltz No. 4 in F major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 3 Waltz No. 3 in A minor 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 2 Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57 Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz' |
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 DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1., DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo Region Code: 0 (worldwide) Running Time: 90:45 Disc Format: DVD 9 FSK: 0 “Not especially celebrated for his Chopin...Barenboim is - it goes without saying - a towering musician who is worth hearing here...Opening with the F minor Fantasia, Barenboim is on magisterial and musically imaginative form. His almost Lisztian approach to the B flat minor Sonata is excitingly turbulent” BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 **** “The Barcarolle and sequence of three Waltzes are quite beguiling...a magnificent and genuinely impassioned account of the A flat major Polonaise...The neat, unfussy direction makes the film a pleasure to watch.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011 “As soon as he begins the Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49, it becomes clear that his whole approach to Chopin concerns the notes themselves; that it is naturally flexible while always conveying a steady pulse; and that he trusts the music to make its own points.” International Record Review, May 2011 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Chopin - 21 Mazurkas
Chopin: | Mazurka No. 15 in C major, Op. 24 No. 2 Mazurka No. 40 in F minor, Op. 63 No. 2 Mazurka No. 17 in B flat minor, Op. 24 No. 4 Mazurka No. 10 in B flat major, Op. 17 No. 1 Mazurka No. 2 in C sharp minor, Op. 6 No. 2 Mazurka No. 45 in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4 Mazurka No. 23 in D major, Op. 33 No. 2 Mazurka No. 22 in G sharp minor, Op. 33 No. 1 Mazurka No. 32 in C sharp minor, Op. 50 No. 3 Mazurka No. 39 in B major, Op. 63 No. 1 Mazurka No. 35 in C minor, Op. 56 No. 3 Mazurka No. 37 in A flat major, Op. 59 No. 2 Mazurka No. 20 in D flat major, Op. 30 No. 3 Mazurka No. 47 in A minor, Op. 68 No. 2 Mazurka No. 34 in C major, Op. 56 No. 2 Mazurka No. 27 in E minor, Op. 41 No. 2 Mazurka No. 29 in A flat major, Op. 41 No. 4 Mazurka No. 49 in F minor, Op. 68 No. 4 Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Mazurka No. 41 in C sharp minor, Op. 63 No. 3 Mazurka No. 13 in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4 |
This new recording of 21 of Chopin's Mazurkas sees the young Russian pianist Vassily Primakov commencing his exploration of Chopin's solo works for Bridge Records. “…Vassily Primakov… shows a special sense of a Slavic melancholy and gaiety at the heart of what is surely Chopin's most deeply confessional diary. Hyper-sensitive to mood-swings, his poetic insight is backed by deft and immaculate pianism. …Primakov surely reserves his ultimate triumph for the end. His op 17 No 4 in A minor is worth the price of the disc alone, memorably refined in sound, colour and nuance.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009 “A refined equilibrium that blends momentum with tasteful rhythmic freedom. This is wonderfully multifaceted Chopin-playing, with the music’s joys and shadows sensitively voiced...His limpid touch is allied to a singing tone and lyrical line, with accents discreetly pointed up to give the music buoyancy, and a refined equilibrium that blends momentum with tasteful rhythmic freedom. This is wonderfully multifaceted Chopin-playing, with the music’s joys and shadows sensitively voiced.” The Telegraph, 10th June 2009 **** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Shura Cherkassky - The Complete HMV Stereo RecordingsPublished to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Cherkassky's birth in 2009
Bach, J S: | Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004: Chaconne arr. Ferruccio Busoni. Recorded 22/3/1956 | Beethoven: | Bagatelles (11), Op. 119: No. 1 in G minor Recorded 21/3/1956 | Chasins: | Three Chinese Pieces Recorded 22/3/1956 | Chopin: | Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3 Recorded 21/3/1956 Waltz No. 1 in E flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 18 Recorded 21/3/1956 Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 Recorded 21/3/1956 Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 Recorded 21/3/1956 Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47 Recorded 28/1/1958 | Gershwin: | Preludes (3) Recorded 17/3/1958 | Liadov: | A Musical Snuffbox, Op. 32 Recorded 21/3/1956 | Liszt: | Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 13 in A minor Recorded 21/3/1956 Valse De L'opera Faust S407 Recorded 22/3/1956 | Litolff: | Scherzo Recorded 27/5/1958 BBC Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent | Poulenc: | Toccata (Trois pieces pour piano No. 2) Recorded 21/3/1956 | Rachmaninov: | Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor Recorded 17/3/1958 Prelude Op. 23 No. 2 in B flat major Recorded 17/3/1958 | Saint-Saëns: | Le carnaval des animaux: Le Cygne arr. Godowsky. Recorded 22/3/1956 | Schubert: | Impromptu in A flat major, D899 No. 4 Recorded 21/3/1956 |
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 1956 and 1958, remastered at Abbey Road Studios in 2009 from the original EMI/HMV tapes. Featuring many tracks never heard before on CD. Most tracks are issued here in stereo for the first time. Includes unpublished versions of Chopin Ballade No. 3 & Gershwin Preludes. All tracks are issued here on CD for the first time in stereo. Includes, for the first time on CD, Litolff's 'Scherzo' with BBC SO / Sargent. A significant historical classical piano release to compliment the limited Cherkassky discography. Substantial two hours worth of music. "A performance of the greatest virtuosity and elegance" Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 Gramophone, Nov 1957 (original mono version issue) "[Beethoven, Poulenc, Chasins]…Cherkassky invests every one with enormous panache and wit. These are great performances that have more character in a single bar than the average modernday Wunderkind could find in a whole work…" Classical Source - mono version re-issue “First Hand's classily presented two-disc set… is a treasure chest of Cherkassky rarities. …these studio recordings have the same vitality and spontaneity as his live performances. …the Hungarian Rhapsody No 13 and the Faust Waltz (especially the stunning coda) are examples of pure pianistic joie de vivre. But above all... are the sheer beauty of sound, individuality of conception and musical imagination that Cherkassky brings to whatever takes his fancy. Required listening for all students of the piano.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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