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Shura Cherkassky: Saint-Saëns & Liszt
Shura Cherkassky was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1909 and died in London in 1995. He was initially taught by his mother who had played for Tchaikovsky, but when the family moved to the US in 1923, he studied with his long-time teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Hofmann, before auditioning for Rachmaninov. Prior to World War II, he had made his name in the US but from 1945 he extensively toured Europe and settled in London in 1961. The last of the great Romantic tradition of pianists, Cherkassky was described by Bryce Morrison as a 'mercurial genius', a unique personality, blessed with an incredible technique, who delighted in defying convention as no performance was identical. For a musician reluctant to visit the studio, live performances were the showcase for his stunning virtuosity and creativity caught on the wing.
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Pierre Monteux (Richard Itter Collection)
MP3 Album:
The great French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) was naturally considered a specialist of his native country’s music, though he would never allow this to restrict him. This new set of previously unpublished recordings seeks to set the record straight, with a strong representation of German repertoire, notably Brahms’ Symphony No.3 with the Boston Symphony, which he never recorded commercially, in a rare ‘live’ performance from the 1956 Edinburgh Festival. More Brahms featuring two celebrated virtuosos – the Violin Concerto with the French violinist Zino Francescatti, and the Double Concerto where he is joined by his compatriot Pierre Fournier, both ‘live’ recordings from the Royal Festival Hall in 1955. Both are previously unpublished.
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BBC Legends Vol. 2
MP3 Album:
ICA Classics are proud to release a second volume of the best selling BBC Legends box, featuring 20 CDs of some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. Volume 1 was released in 2013 and comprised 20 CDs taken from the award winning BBC Legends catalogue (unavailable since 2010). Here is the follow-up with a further 20 CDs. The artists include Arturo Toscanini, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Kirsten Flagstad, Victoria de los Angeles, Sir Thomas Beecham, Carlo Maria Giulini, Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Monteux, Yehudi Menuhin, Andres Segovia, Dame Myra Hess, Nathan Milstein, Walter Gieseking, Arthur Rubinstein, Geza Anda, Claudio Arrau, Eduard van Beinum, Sir William Walton, Pierre Fournier, Benjamin Britten and the Borodin Quartet. Contains interviews/memories of Kirsten Flagstad and Carlo Maria Giulini.
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Great Pianists
MP3 Album:
EMIL GILELS
BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 – 1967
ICAC 5000
CLAUDIO ARRAU
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.1 • BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4 – 1954 & 1959
1954 (Chopin), 1959 (Beethoven) Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln.
ICAC 5045
JULIUS KATCHEN
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No.1* • CHOPIN Ballade No.3 • LISZT Mephisto Waltz No.1
SCHUMANN Vogel als Prophet (Waldszenen) • ALBÉNIZ Triana (Ibéria – Book 2) – 1958, 1965 & 1967*
ICAC 5048
GEORGES CZIFFRA
GRIEG Piano Concerto • LISZT Piano Concerto No.1 • Fantasy on Hungarian Folk Themes
LULLY Gavotte en rondeau • D. SCARLATTI Sonata K96 ‘La Chasse’ – 1959
ICAC 5079
SHURA CHERKASSKY
CHOPIN Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 – 1981 & 1983
ICAC 5085
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Shura Cherkassky
MP3 Album:
CHOPIN
Piano Concerto No.1
Piano Concerto No.2
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Adey
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Richard Hickox
Recorded: Studio 1, Broadcasting House, Glasgow, 3 December 1981 (No.1)
Royal Albert Hall, London, 30 August 1983 (No.2)
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Hugo Wolf
MP3 Album:
Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch
Janet Baker
John Shirley-Quirk
Steuart Bedford
Live from the 1977 Aldeburgh Festival
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Yuri Bashmet
MP3 Album:
Brahms: Symphony No.3
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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6 ‘Pathétique’
Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra
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Shura Cherkassky
MP3 Album:
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
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Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No.7
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Stravinsky: Three Scenes from Petrushka
Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester / Zdeněk Mácal