Piano Library - Deutsche Grammophon Edition (22 CD Box Set)

Astounding debuts and legendary piano treasures on disc: newly remastered albums of 21 pianists from the analogue era, including many first-ever digital transfers.

MORE INFORMATION

Before he became a Decca icon, Vladimir Ashkenazy appeared on DG in performances recorded live at the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Their reissue here is complemented by a Rachmaninoff sequence with Ashkenazy’s teacher, Lev Oborin. At the same competition five years later, Arthur Rubinstein was so outraged at the low placing given by his fellow jurors to the Belgian pianist Michel Block that he created a special prize for him on the spot, and DG responded likewise by issuing precious recordings of his live Chopin performances from 1960.

Through the late 1960s and 70s, the ‘Concours’ and ‘Debut’ sub-labels on DG launched an array of pianists at the start of promising careers. They came from a rich variety of backgrounds and schools. Blockbuster Russians included Boris Bloch and Youri Egorov. New-World stars in the making included Steven De Groote and Zola Mae Shaulis. Among the young artists from the central European traditions were Veronica Jochum von Moltke (Eugen Jochum’s daughter) and Claude Helffer.

A few of these musicians, such as Ashkenazy, went on to enjoy long careers. Some disappeared from the limelight, lending to their legacy on record both rarity value and a melancholy sense of potential left untapped. David Lively, Alexander Lonquich and Ewa Pobłocka are still performing today, but their DG Debut albums have never been reissued on CD. Dino Ciani, Youri Egorov and Steven De Groote died tragically young while their careers were still in the ascendant. Other pianists retreated from the spotlight and became teachers, such as Roberto Szidon and Boris Bloch.

Alongside the fire-breathing virtuosity of Mikhail Faermann and Steven De Groote, the box reissues Beethoven sonata recordings made by Elly Ney at the end of her long career, and a mono-era account of the Diabelli Variations by the Swiss pianist Paul Baumgartner. These artists represent a link with the Clara Schumann school of pianism, while Erik Then-Bergh’s 1951 account of Reger’s Telemann Variations embodies an intellectual German style.

Pianophiles of every stripe will find something here to astonish and intrigue them. The recordings are issued in the Original Covers format, and the booklet includes an introduction to each of the pianists by the piano-specialist Jonathan Summers.

In this set you’ll find:

- A collection of rare albums made by pianists for Deutsche Grammophon between 1951 and 1980.
20 hours of fascinating pianism

- Several recordings included here first appeared on Deutsche Grammophon’s ‘Concours’ and ‘Debut’ series

- CD premieres of recordings by Lev Oborin (Rachmaninoff), Youri Egorov (Schumann), Zola Mae Shaulis (a crystalline interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, five of his Toccatas and Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata) and Steven De Groote (variations by Beethoven and Schumann).

- First on CD: one of the earliest recordings of Boulez’s Second Piano Sonata by French pianist Claude Helffer and a stunning Ravel Gaspard from Jorge Luis Prats

- Mixed recitals by competition winners Boris Bloch, Diana Kacso, Alexander Lonquich and Ewa Pobłocka

-Previously unpublished accounts of Debussy Préludes (Livre I) by Dino Ciani (recorded 1971) and Schumann’s Nachtstücke (Veronica Jochum von Moltke, recorded 1963).

- Authoritative notes by piano expert Jonathan Summers

- Original Jackets, archival photographs and new remasterings