Debussy: Reflets dans l'eau (No. 1 from Images pour piano - Book 1)

This CD brings over twenty-five minutes of Sofronitsky's teaching of three of Scriabin’s pieces as well as performances of four Scriabin pieces, all recorded privately at his Moscow apartment in 1954. The lessons are meticulously indexed with carefully labelled translations in the booklet. There's also a selection of private and live recordings from 1947 and 1954 of works by Scriabin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy and Mendelssohn.

WARNING: Although sonically challenged, these recordings have been available due to their profound historical significance. Also, the relatively extreme length [79.57] of this CD may cause reading problems in some early model players.

On ‘Sound Waves’, Alexandra Silocea immerses herself in the aqueous sonorities of some of the great pianistic composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Schubert, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel, plus a world-premiere recording of a work commissioned by young Norwegian composer Martin Romberg.

Alexandra Silocea made something of a splash with her debut recording on AVIE of the first five Piano Sonatas by Prokofiev (AV2183), which “I don't recall having heard being played better by anyone”, according to International Record Review. For her follow up she immerses herself in the aqueous sonorities of some of the great pianistic composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The rippling stream in Schubert’s ‘Der Müller und der Bach’ from the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin is faithfully reproduced for solo keyboard by Liszt whose own, grander Jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este evokes a fountain in the gardens of a Tivoli villa. In Reflets dans l'eau Debussy subtly interplays watery reflections, both melodic and rhythmic, whilst Ravel, like Liszt, celebrates a fountain, this one in Versailles, in Jeux d'eau. These and other water-inspired works flow through Alexandra’s second recording, ‘Sound Waves’. She adds a distinctive stamp with a commission by the young Norwegian composer, Martin Romberg, Eärendil, meaning “lover of the sea” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s elven language of Quenya.

An audiophile recording of some of Debussy’s favourite piano pieces plus rare and unusual works by admirers of his musical idiom. Carlo Grante is one of today’s most active and popular recording pianists and his concert repertoire is one of the largest among contemporary pianists.

IRENE SCHARRER, though perhaps the least remembered of the major Matthay pupils, was the earliest to record, beginning in 1909 at the age of 21.That in itself is a credit to her early fame, which she established through an extrovert, but always musical, virtuosity.

She excelled in such works as the Chopin Etudes, nine of which she recorded, and in other brilliant pieces such as those here by Scarlatti and Liszt, but the poise and refinement of her Chopin nocture or the slow movement of the Mozart sonata reveal another side to her playing that is sadly underrepresented on disc. Her final recording, of the Litolff Scherzo, was also her most famous; in its day it was a best seller and was responsible for putting that work on the musical map. This set reissues for the first time all Scharrer’s electrical recordings and also an example of every work she recorded in the acoustic era (pre 1925) that was not later remade as an electrical recording. For completeness, a discography of all her other acoustic recordings is also included.

Pianist Jeremy Eskenazi is a true rising star with a glittering career already. His first CD for Divine Art features music relating to water - from the gentle (Debussy) to the ferocious (Beethoven), with works by Chopin and Liszt, and several new pieces by leading British-Australian composer Alicia Grant.

Grant is known for her specially commissioned work, ANZAC Anthem, for choir and organ, which was premiered by the Choir of Westminster Abbey in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2005. This anthem continues to be regularly performed at Westminster Abbey and other memorial services that mark Australia and New Zealand’s national day of remembrance.

Born in Paris in 1978, French-British pianist Jeremy Eskenazi is regularly invited to give concerts, seminars, workshops and lecture-recitals around the world. The holder of a PhD in Performance Practice from the Royal Academy of Music (University of London), he has performed in many venues, such as the Festival Chopin in Paris, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields in London, the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, and the Istanbul Opera House.

Recorded: St. John’s, Smith Square, London, 15 October 1984 (Scarlatti, Debussy)

Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, 22 April 1957 (Beethoven, Scriabin, Prokofiev)

This CD contains some of the first and last recordings the great Russian pianist Emil Gilels (1916-1985) made for the BBC. The lunchtime concert at the church of St. John's, in Smith Square, London on 15 October 1984 was to be his last performance in London.

Gilels liked to play a selection of Scarlatti's sonatas - what he referred to as 'a bouquet'. He included five of them on his first BBC Legends CD (BBCL40152) from his April 1957 BBC studio recording. Here we have another 7 Scarlatti sonatas recorded in excellent stereo.

Gilels first performed Debussy's 'Pour le Piano' in December 1953 only playing it a few times. After the mid 1950s, he did not play it again until the end of May 1984, five months prior to this stereo live concert. When referring to this concert Nicholas Kenyon wrote of Gilels performance of 'Pour le Piano'; 'But this is… more than the sheer creation of sound. For every wonderfully contrived sound reflects a conviction about the music: it is a total fusion of composer and interpreter that tells us for a few exalting moments, that the music can only sound this way.'

Although he toured the UK for the first time at the end of 1952, Gilels did not record for the BBC until April 1957. Apart from the five sonatas by Scarlatti which were issued on BBCL 4015-2, we have here works by Beethoven, Scriabin and Prokofiev. As persuasive and pliant as his performance is here, it would appear that Gilels did not play this sonata again until he came to record it commercially in the studio in 1974. From Scriabin's ten Piano Sonatas, Gilels only played No.1 in the early 1950s, No.3 only in 1983-84, and No.4 in 1955-57. In this performance of No. 4, Gilels ability to combine great delicacy and enormous controlled power are ideal for this work. From Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Gilels only played Nos. 2, 3, 7 and 8.