Rachmaninov: Prelude Op. 32 No. 8 in A minor

This Dal Segno releases features a collection of some of the greatest Russian pianists playing Russian compositions. Prokofiev and Scriabin are featured playing their own compositions in recordings taken from original piano rolls but replicated in 1992 on a new concert grand piano.

Recorded 1951-1954

It is with some pride that Cornwall-based Magdalen is releasing several recordings of Saltash-born Dame Moura Lympany (others will surely follow in due course). Lympany had a clear affinity with Russian music and with Rachmaninov in particular: she was the first artist to record the Preludes complete (the recordings in this collection date from 1951) and her performances of Piano Concertos 1 – 3 under Malko and Collins, made between 1952 and 1954 and among the first to appear on LP, have always been treasured by critics and public alike. Space does not allow for all 24 Preludes but we have chosen eighteen of the finest to accompany the concertos. Quite simply, this is music-making to wallow in and to marvel at!

Few classical artists have made so spectacular an initial impact upon public – even global – consciousness as the pianist Yevgeny Kissin, when in 1984 at the age of 12 he gave both piano concertos by Chopin in a single concert at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. His fame was assured, and from there on his reputation preceded him as a young, sublimely gifted virtuoso possessed of the most brilliant technique, seemingly natural musical touch and preternatural confidence.

All those assets can be heard to advantage in some popular – and more formidable works by his countrymen, from the glittering display vehicles written by Shostakovich and Prokofiev to the powerful sweep of Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular First Concerto. Of course Kissin has gone on to perform and indeed record these works – he is now 40, a British citizen for the last nine years, mirabile dictu – several times since, but the early recordings retain a bravado and unselfconscious vigour that infects every performance with appealing zest and sometimes astonishing assurance.

This set is this first in a new APR series featuring pupils of the great British piano teacher, Tobias Matthay.

TOBIAS MATTHAY (1858–1945) is the greatest piano teacher Britain has produced. From the 1890s to the 1930s, first at the RAM and then also at his own school, he almost singlehandedly produced a generation of concert pianists who launched an English piano tradition. York Bowen was an early pupil, but those best remembered are a group of female pianists; Harriet Cohen, Myra Hess, Irene Scharrer and Moura Lympany, all of whom will feature in this APR series.

EILEEN JOYCE lies somewhat outside this mainstream, as she trained principally in Germany, but she did have three years of finishing studies with Matthay between 1930 and 1933.

Eileen Joyce was born in Tasmania in 1908 to poor immigrants of Irish descent. Her father was an itinerant labourer and the family soon moved to Western Australia where the young Eileen discovered the piano and, in spite of much hardship, soon developed an astonishing playing ability. Heard by Grainger and Backhaus, who both praised her, she was sent off to Germany where she studied for three years with Robert Teichmüller. She came to England in 1930 with a recommendation which led to her Proms debut in that year playing Prokofiev's Third Concerto. She also commenced her advanced studies with Matthay.

After a slow start, her career blossomed exponentially from 1933 when she made her first recording. This disc, of Paul de Schlözer's Etude Op1/2 and Liszt's La Leggierezza is still regarded as one of the most astonishing examples of virtuosity ever recorded.

From this time until 1960, when she suddenly retired from performing at the age of 52, she was one of Britain's best loved pianists.

She appeared 37 times at the Proms, gave the British premieres of both Shostakovich concertos and became known to millions as the pianist playing Rachmaninov's Second Concerto in the film 'Brief Encounter'. Her greatest recordings are from the 78rpm period and we present all of these, with the exception of her concerto performances and a few later Decca discs. Eileen was a natural pianist with a big rich sound and very fast fingers; she is at her best in the many brilliant encore type pieces she recorded but she was equally stylish (and brilliant) in Mozart and had a special affinity with the wistful nostalgia of Grieg.

Most of these recordings have never been transferred to CD before so this set is a 'must' for all enthusiasts of great piano playing from the past.

A valuable sequel to our first Kissin Collection with early recordings. This set of five CD’s once more demonstrates the incredible maturity of Kissin’s playing at a tender age (from 12 to 19 years old). Here one can follow the development of the young pianist from being a child prodigy to an established artist.

The repertoire includes some of Mozart concertos together with the Moscow Virtuosi, the ensemble with which Kissin toured in 1988. Next to Prokofiev’s third Piano concerto –together with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra -, this set mainly contains some solo music, including two Inventions by the young pianist himself.

With Schubert’s Trout Quintet as a rare example of Kissin playing chamber music.

Recordings made between 1984 and 1990.