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Historical Classical: Conductors
Featuring the conducting of FurtwÄngler, Knappertsbusch, Mitropoulos and Toscanini and more.

Digital Classical Recordings
Listed Alphabetically: Modern high-fidelity recordings of standard as well as modern repertoire by some of today's greatest artists. With an emphasis on contemporary American music, and featuring Ursula Oppens, the Mirecourt Trio, Igor Kipnis, and the Composers' Quartet.

Pristine Audio & Natural Sound

New! CD-1210(1) BORIS GOLTZ (1913 - 1942): COMPLETE WORKS FOR SOLO PIANO. Scherzo in E Minor; 24 Preludes, Op.2. Sergei Podobedov, piano. Premiere recordings. DDD. Notes in English and Russian. Total time: 55:00

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BUZZ: A traditional late-Romantic composer in the heritage of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff, Goltz might have become as famous as these giants of Russian pianism had he not perished at just 28 during the siege of Leningrad. Russian-American pianist Sergei Podobedov unearthed his brilliant solo piano compositions from the 1930s and has recorded them for the first time on this CD. The booklet contains an extensive discussion of the forgotten composer and his work by the Russian musicologist Olga Skorbyashenskaya.

CD-1013(1) GIESEKING PLAYS SCHUMANN. Robert Schumann: Etudes Symphoniques Op. 13; Waldscenen, Op. 82; and Romances, Op. 28: Nos. 1 & 2 (all recorded 9 July 1951 in Saarbücken) and Sonata No. 1 in F# Minor, Op. 11 (Grosse Sonate) (recorded in 1942 for RRG, the German radio system). Total time: 74:41. (AAD)

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BUZZ: A phenomenal technician and colorist who made melody communicate to a unique degree and played with great stylistic differentiation, Walter Gieseking was one of the most individual and consistently inspired pianists of our time. This collection brings together some of his finest broadcast performances of works by Schumann.
"This may well be the finest recording ever made of this sonata, and I recommend it highly to anyone who loves music."
-Charles Timbrell, Fanfare

CD-1036(1) MICHELANGELI PLAYS BEETHOVEN AND CHOPIN. BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 11 Op. 22 in B flat (Paris, November 11, 1978); Sonata No. 12 Op. 26 in A flat (London, April 13, 1982) & Chopin: Sonata No. 2 Op. 35 in b flat (Tokyo, October 29, 1973). (AAD) Total time: 70:23

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BUZZ: Originally released in 1998 and sold out in 2002, this internationally acclaimed collection has been reissued by popular demand. Release authorized by the Estate of A.B. Michelangeli. "Michelangeli at his grandest...quite stupendously intense and passionate, and in excellent sound on this new Music & Arts disc....when you hear playing of the caliber that fills this disc, you can only be grateful that he was caught on the wing, bestowing his magic and his profundity in some of the greatest keyboard works."
-Michael Tanner, Classical Express (London)

CD-1008(2) GIESEKING PLAYS MOZART. CD No. 1 (69:33): Piano Concerto No. 9, K271 in E-flat, ORTF, Igor Markevitch, 11, September 1955 (Montreux). Piano Concerto No. 21, K467 in C, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Guido Cantelli, 26 March 1955 (New York). Piano Sonata, K545 in C, NDR, 10, November 1954 (Hamburg). CD No. 2 (65:01): Piano Concerto No. 27, K595 in B-flat, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Victor Desarzens, 17 December 1948 (Lausanne). Piano Concerto No. 23, K488 in A, Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra. Volkmar Andreae, June 1949 (Zürich). Piano Sonata, K576 in D, 17 August 1944. Walter Gieseking, piano. (AAD)

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BUZZ: Although Gieseking's commercial recordings encompass some of the great piano recordings, he didn't live to record under ideal circumstances even a small part of his vast repertoire. The present disc of broadcast performances is therefore of especial importance not only in increasing the Gieseking legacy but in chronicling the history of great pianism. The Concerto K488 and the Sonata K545 appear on CD for the first time in this collection, while the Concerto K467 and the Sonata K576 are issued here in considerably improved sound over prior editions.

"Going from excellence to excellence, a 1955 live performance by Walter Gieseking contains the most thrilling orchestral performance of the [K467] work committed to disc."
-Benjamin Ivry, International Piano

CD-723(1) FRANZ LISZT: GRAND ROMANTIC VIRTUOSO. Marc-André Hamelin performs Réminiscences de Norma (after Bellini), La Leggierezza, Un Sospiro, Polo-naise No. 2 in E, Bénédiction de Dieu dans Solitude (Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, No. 3) & Réminiscences de Don Juan (after Mozart). (DDD)

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"[Marc-André Hamelin] moves the music smartly along, his approach is elegant, his fingers stupendous..."
-Harold C. Schonberg, Keyboard

CD-1202(2) ERVIN NYIREGYHÁZI IN PERFORMANCE: LIVE RECORDINGS, 1972-1982. CD No. 1 (76:28): LISZT: Légendes: No. 1, & 2; "St. François d'Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux"; excerpts from the oratorio Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth (arr. Nyiregyházi); "Waldesrauschen"; "Sonetto 123 del Petrarca"; "Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este"; "Au lac de Wallenstadt". BRAHMS: Intermezzo in E-flat Minor, Op. 118/No. 6. SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp. GRIEG: Lyric Pieces, Op. 54: No. 4, "Notturno". CD No. 2: (74:51) Tchaikovsky: "Valse" in A-flat Major; Romance in F Minor. DEBUSSY: "Pagodes"; La plus que lente. CHOPIN: Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, Op. 6/No. 2; Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 28/No. 10; Mazurkas in F Minor, Op. 63/No. 2 & in B Minor, Op. 33/No. 4; Nocturne in F Minor, Op. 55/No.1; RACHMANINOFF (arr.Nyiregyházi): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18, II: Adagio sostenuto; SCUBERT (arr. Nyiregyházi): "Der Wanderer" & "Heidenröslein". Restoration Engineer: Albert Frantz (2007). Extensive notes in English and Japanese by Kevin Bazzana, author of Nyiregyházi's biography Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick, published in 2007 in the U.S. and Canada; soon to appear in Germany and Japan as well. ADD.

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BUZZ: Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903-87) is largely forgotten today, but he was one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic pianists of the twentieth century, and his eccentric personality and bizarre career have few parallels in the history of music. These late concert recordings, all but four released here for the first time, are representative of Nyiregyházi's art, and should help to rehabilitate a lost genius whose reputation has rarely matched his artistic stature.

CD-984(1) THE GODOWSKY EDITION, VOL. I. LEOPOLD GODOWSKY: Twelve Schubert Song Transcriptions and the Passacaglia (Theme from Schubert's Unfinished Symphony). Performed by Carlo Grante, piano. Total time: 57:23. (DDD).

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"In the seventeen-minute-long 1928 Passacaglia, a massive set of variations on the opening theme of Schubert's Unfinished, I particularly appreciated the stormy manner in which Grante treated the variation that so much resembles Der Erlkonig."
-Igor Kipnis, Fi Magazine

CD-1047(1) BUSONI: WORKS FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA, INCLUDING A WORLD PREMIERE! Concerto per pianoforte accompagnamente di quartetto ad arco, Op. 17 (1878), world premiere recording! Concertstück für Pianoforte mit Orchester, Op. 31a (1890); Indianische Fantasie für Klavier mit Orchester, Op. 44 (1913-15). Carlo Grante, piano; I Pomeriggi Musicali; Marco Zuccarini, conductor. Timing: 64:39.

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"Grante's playing throughout is of commanding authority, especially in the cadenza passages [of the Indian Fantasy] in which the developmental aspects of the writing emerge with a clarity that reflects the clearly defined structural working of the various orchestral groups... The Konzertstück, the work with which Busoni's mature compositional career might be said to begin, finds Grante on equally imposing form, avoiding the dangers of over-inflating its more overtly Brahmsian textures, while at the same time alive to the opportunities for brilliant display."
-Charles Hopkins, International Piano Quarterly

CD-1060(2) CLAUDIO ARRAU IN GERMANY: PRE-WAR RECORDINGS FROM THE COLLECTION OF DEUTSCHES RUNDFUNKARCHIV. CHOPIN: Ballade Op. 23 (8:24); BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 7, Op. 10 No. 3 in D (21:01); MOZART: Sonata in D K576 (Stuttgart, 31/5/39) (14:05); BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 3 Op. 2 in C (23:49); HAYDN: Andante con Variazioni in f Op. 83 (Stuttgart, 13/11/38) (8:53); LISZT: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca from Années de Pèlerinage (Seconde année) (Stuttgart, 19/7/37) (6:25), Concerto No. 1 in Eb major for piano and orchestra (Frankfurt R.O. Hans Rosbaud, 15/5/35) (18:17), Harmonies du soir from Etudes d'exécution transcendante (Stuttgart, 19/7/37) (7:53); CHOPIN: Scherzo (No. 3) Opus 39, in c# (1939) (7:19)*; LISZT: Les jeux d'eaux à la villa d'Este from Années de Pèlerinage (1929) (6:55)*. 2 CDs. [AAD] A coproduction with Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (German Radio Archive).
*Commercial recordings, previously issued.

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"...marvellous performances..."
-Igor Kipnis, Classic Record Collector

CD-1124(2) J.S. BACH: THE FRENCH SUITES. BWV 812-817, selected Preludes, BWV 923, 999, 815a, and three Preludes from the Well-Tempered Clavier, performed by David Cates, harpsichord. CD1 49:38; CD2 45:22.

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David Cates, who plays a harpsichord made by Owen Daly in 1999, after an instrument by Antoine Vaudry built in 1981, is rapidly becoming recognized as one today's most unique and important artists performing on the harpsichord. His previous recordings of solo works by Froberger and J.S. Bach have met with widespread critical acclaim. The 2002 Classical Music Listener's Companion calls him one of the 20 most important harpsichordists recording today, "an unusual interpreter" and an "outstanding talent".

"There can be little but praise for the performances, the great strength of which is Cates's linear approach to the music, an important factor in works that for Bach rely to an unusual degree on melodic line. One need listen only to the conception of No. 6's noble Sarabande, or the equivalent movement of No. 3, where Cates's poised, quiet introspection draws the listener unerringly into the music."
-Brian Robins, Fanfare

"This newly issued recording of the French Suites is a must for every Bach keyboard enthusiast and would also be an excellent choice as one's only version. David Cates offers a constant level of excellence I haven't found in any other version I know. What Bach's inspiration offers us is exactly what Cates provides. ...He delivers the total package with harpsichord sound that can't be beaten.... I urge readers to add it to their Bach library."
-Don Satz, MusicWeb.uk.net (UK)

CD-1133(1) ROBERT CASADESUS IN CONCERT: Saint-Saëns: Concerto No. 4 in C Minor for piano, Op. 44 Franck: Symphonic Variations . Both with ORTF, Jascha Horenstein Montreux Festival Sept. 26, 1961 Ravel: Concerto pour la main gauche (17:08) Het Concertgebouworkest, Eduard van Beinum Concertgebouw Amsterdam October 23 or 24, 1946 total time = 54:45 Technical Reconstruction (2004): Maggi Payne AAD

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BUZZ: The pianism of Robert Casadesus (1899-1972) is well documented on the numerous recordings he made over a span of some 40 years. This legacy embraces most of the major works from his repertoire and fortunately almost all of Casadesus's studio activity is, or has been, available on compact disc reissues. The three performances offered herewith, however, provide a glimpse of this great French pianist in live settings. Furthermore, the works by Saint-Saëns and Franck bring us a collaboration with Jascha Horenstein, a major conductor not represented among Casadesus's studio ventures (where the majority of his concerto discs were led by Munch, Rodzinski, Mitropoulos, Ormandy, Szell, or Bernstein).

Casadesus was able to boast a direct line of influence going back to the gestation of César Franck's Variations symphoniques via an early teacher of his, and he knew Ravel and was the first to record Ravels complete piano music. These performances are authoritative and admirably executed. Technical reconstruction by Maggi Payne; liner notes by Donald Manildi.