Favourites,
Gifts for...Pianists and piano-lovers
The Icelandic pianist's recording of a work which he reveres for its 'countless instances of exalted poetry, abstract contemplation and deep pathos' (and which he's dreamed of recording for twenty-five years) is our best-selling album of the year to date, following a raft of five-star reviews. The Times described Ólafsson's interpretation as 'utterly beguiling', whilst The Spectator's Damian Thompson declared 'I’ll go out on a limb and say that the Goldberg crown has settled on a new head.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The four major works on Levit's beautifully curated and performed programme are JS Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, Busoni’s doughty Fantasia contrappuntistica and Berg's Piano Sonata. The album also includes four shorter, complementary works: Alexander Siloti’s arrangement of the 'Air on a G string' from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, Liszt’s transcription of Schubert’s 'Der Doppelgänger', Busoni's Nuit de Noël and Berg's early Klavierstück in B minor.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Fantasie: Seven Composers, Seven Keyboards
Alexander Melnikov (harpsichord/fortepiano/tangent piano/piano)
Five years on from his award-winning Four Pieces - Four Pianos, Melnikov ups the stakes still further with this programme of fantasias by JS & CPE Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Busoni and Schnittke - performed respectively on harpsichord, tangent piano, Graf and Walther fortepianos, an Érard, a Bechstein and a Steinway. The Telegraph's Ivan Hewett described the results as 'the most engrossing listening experience to have come my way in months', whilst Fanfare pronounced that 'Melnikov’s recital delights from beginning to end.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Osborne's previous recordings of Debussy have been widely praised, with BBC Music Magazine applauding his 'marvellous range of colour, finely judged touch, and ability to combine powerful waves of sound with diaphanous passagework' in the Préludes (2006), and The Sunday Times describing him as 'a master of illumination and perceptiveness in the French pianistic canon' upon the release of his set of early and late piano pieces last year. This new album also includes La plus que lente, the Berceuse héroïque, and Roy Howat's realisation of the six-page sketch for the eleventh étude.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Twenty-five years on from his Gramophone Award-winning disc of the Catalan composer's Canción y Danzas, Préludes and other works, Hough returns to what he describes as ‘the music of evaporation’ with a complete recording of the Música callada - a set of 28 miniatures, published in four volumes between 1959 and 1967 and inspired by the poet St John of the Cross as well as carrying faint whispers of Fauré and Satie.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The Italian pianist's 2021 recording of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses met with widespread critical acclaim, with Gramophone declaring that 'her masterful authority immediately captures your attention' and BBC Music Magazine noting that 'formidable technical ability is matched by the architectural sense, harmonic sensibility and coloristic range this sprawling music demands'. This sequel open with the eponymous 'Six Pensées poétiques', and also includes the Deux légendes, Liebesträume and Caprices-Valses.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos & Paganini Rhapsody
Yuja Wang (piano), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel
These live recordings were made during Wang's Rachmaninoff residency at Walt Disney Hall this February, which was staged to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth; reviewing the concerts, the Los Angeles Times pronounced that 'this was Rachmaninoff heard like it’s not been heard anywhere else', praising Wang's 'exceptional power, depth and dazzle' and Dudamel's 'propulsive and extravagantly detailed' conducting.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos
Beatrice Rana (piano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
For her second concerto recording, the Italian pianist couples two works premiered by Clara Wieck-Schumann: the piano concerto which she composed in her teens and first performed at the Gewandhaus (with Mendelssohn conducting) in 1835, and her husband Robert's concerto from a decade later, expanded from an earlier one-movement draft at Clara's instigation. The programme is rounded off by Liszt's transcription of Robert's song 'Widmung' ['Dedication'], composed shortly before their marriage.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
These recordings were made in Paris in April 2021, when Vogt was already undergoing treatment for the cancer which claimed his life last September; aware of the possibility that he would not survive the hear the final edits, he enlisted his friend Paul Lewis to be his 'second pair of ears' and to approve the recording for release. During the recording-sessions he reflected that 'This idea that despite everything things aren’t so horrible in this world. It always plays a role in Mozart'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The British pianist is on typically eloquent, empathetic form in a programme which includes Robert's Kreisleriana and Blumenstück, Clara's variations on a theme from his Bunte Blätter, and their friend Brahms's autumnal Intermezzi Op. 117. The album was nominated for a Gramophone Award earlier this year, and was described in The Telegraph as 'stunningly good playing, which will confirm Grosvenor’s place in the top rank of young pianists.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The name of Joseph Jongen might not ring many bells (other than for aficionados of organ music), but it's likely that many of these gorgeous miniatures will nonetheless feel strangely familiar, thanks to the Belgian composer's omnivorous musical appetite and gift for pastiche - Satie, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Scarlatti and Bach are all thrown deftly into the mix, and Ilić shape-shifts with equal aplomb, throwing gentle light on the kaleidoscopic range of colours and textures which Jongen has to offer.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Hearing Hamelin play Fauré is like observing the workings of a luxury-brand wristwatch with its many interdependent and intricately connected parts working in perfect harmony to produce the movement you see on the clockface.' - This was Gramophone's verdict on this collection of the short pieces which Fauré composed at intervals throughout his career, and which draw inspiration from composers including Chopin, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Chausson and Lalo.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
New Collections
This celebration of the recorded legacy of the German pianist (who died last September aged just 51) includes the Brahms piano sonatas and several major chamber works, the first two Beethoven piano concertos, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Schumann's Kreisleriana, Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps from the Spannungen Festival, and works by Vogt's first wife Tatjana Komarova.
Available Format: 27 CDs
All of the recordings of this set were restored and remastered in 2012 by Guthrie Luke, a student of Cortot who was present at many of the recording-sessions; the earliest recordings here date from 1919, and include works by Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Chopin, Debussy and Albéniz. In addition to the solo repertoire, the set also includes piano trios by Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann (with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals).
Available Format: 40 CDs
The recordings here were made between 1966 and 2016, with highlights including the complete Beethoven & Brahms violin sonatas with Itzhak Perlman, Schumann's Dichterliebe and Liederkreis with Matthias Goerne, Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff songs with Elisabeth Söderström, the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with the Fitzwilliam Quartet, and Russian & French piano duets with Ashkenazy's son Vovka.
Available Format: 51 CDs
Released to mark the American pianist's 95th birthday this week, this set brings together the recordings which Janis made for Mercury Living Presence between 1960 and 1964, including concertos by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and David Guion's The Harmonica Player. A bonus CD captures a recital given during a historic visit to Leningrad in 1960 (and secretly recorded by Janis's hosts), featuring Copland's Piano Sonata and works by Chopin, Falla, Liszt, Mozart and Schumann.
All tracks apart from the Leningrad recital are also provided in Blu-ray audio.
Available Format: 9 CDs + Blu-ray Audio
New Books about the Piano, Pianists and Performing
Ever since Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert stage after six decades of performing, he has been passing on his insight and experience in the form of lectures, readings and master-classes. This reader distils his musical and linguistic eloquence, and will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technique, history and repertoire of the piano. Erudite, witty, enlightening and deeply personal: rarely has the instrument been described in such an entertaining and intelligent fashion.
Available Format: Book
Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions
Oxford University Press | Pedro De Alcantara
Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions is a practical method book for musicians of all abilities. It provides a new way of thinking about the piano, emphasizing the pianist-reader's innate capacity to respond creatively to a musical and technical stimulus.
Available Format: Book
Piano Sheet Music - Recent Publications and Collections
The Notebook for Johann Christian Bach completes the collection of surviving instructional works from within the Bach family, following the highly praised Notebooks for Anna Magdalena and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
Available Format: Sheet Music
In association with the Mendelssohn House, Leipzig, Edition Peters proudly presents the Mendelssohn ‘Souvenir’ edition, containing a selection of piano works intended by Mendelssohn to be played in the home, as generations of amateur musicians since the 19th century have done – learning to appreciate and love this wonderful music.
Available Format: Sheet Music
Transport yourself to the magical world of Harry Potter with this stunning collector’s edition piano anthology. Featuring an exclusive, bespoke cover by MinaLima, the graphic design studio behind the Wizarding World, with special gold foiling and a treasure trove of magical illustrations. This ultimate collection of Harry Potter piano music makes the perfect gift for pianists and Potterheads alike!
Available Format: Sheet Music
