Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2 No. 3

In 1960, Richter gave a series of highly acclaimed concerts at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan which were recorded by Columbia Records. Regis presents an all Beethoven programme, taken from those concerts, which displays Richter’s Beethovenian credentials and which captures the sheer excitement that the concert series provoked at the time. Super budget price.

Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982) was one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. After brief studies with Paderewski in Switzerland in 1903, Rubinstein moved to Paris, where he met Ravel and Dukas, and played Saint-Saëns’s G minor Concerto to the composer’s approval. He made his debuts in the USA in 1906 and London in 1912. He was a superb performer of Chopin and his 1960s recordings of nearly all Chopin’s solo piano music have been considered essential to any record collection since their release.

He was also a formidable interpreter of Spanish music.

Rubinstein became a naturalised American citizen in 1946, but he maintained residences in California, New York, Paris and Geneva. After the Second World War, he refused to perform in Germany, in response to the Nazi extermination of his Polish family. Rubinstein became a strong supporter of Israel with an international piano competition named after him in 1974. His honours included the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society of London, the US Medal of Freedom (1976), and membership of the French Legion of Honour.

This is a rare live recording of Rubinstein made by the BBC in 1963. It has only recently been discovered in the National Sound Archives.

It has never been issued before in any format.

The recital contains repertoire by composers that were closely associated with the pianist: Chopin, Ravel and Beethoven. Rubinstein’s temperament had sufficient fire for Beethoven but enough poetry for Chopin; his tempos and dynamics were always flexible, but never distorted.

Rubinstein’s recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.2 on ICA Classics (ICAC5003) was a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’, with Rubinstein’s playing praised for its ‘legendary charisma and indelible individuality’.

The Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997) was one of the greatest interpreters of the 20th century, along with his compatriots Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich. As Richard Osborne says of Richter’s playing in his booklet note, “Bravura technique matched to high intelligence and a richly developed musical imagination is a rare combination of qualities in any instrumentalist.”

Richter made his debut in the West in 1960 with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op.2 no.3 at a recital in New York. Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata was one of the main features of Richter’s programming in the summer of 1975 in Prague, London and Aldeburgh, the latter performed one week prior to London and recorded on BBC Legends.

Richter’s live recitals catch him at his very best compared to the confines of the studio. The 1975 recital in London was considered a landmark, one of the greatest that Richter gave in this country. Richard Osborne has written in the booklet notes, “As Richter’s performance vividly attests, the ‘Hammerklavier’ is from first note to last a work of extraordinary lucidity and clear-sightedness.” The Beethoven Piano Sonata No.3 op.2 no.3 and the three Bagatelles op.126, which formed the other works played in all the 1975 concerts, attest to Richter’s great understanding of Beethoven.

This is the first time that this London recital has been issued commercially on CD in an authorised version and it is remastered here in excellent stereo.

2 CD & DVD.

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