Decca Piano Sound [55 CD Box Set]

The latest instalment of Decca’s megabrand is here! Right now, PIANO is right at the center of attention everywhere and this 55-CD box set puts the spotlight on a wealth of recordings from the Decca catalogue spanning eight decades and five continents. The curation of this set is passionate, scholarly, and features a number of unpublished and new to CD material. Includes fantastic booklet notes by Cyrus Meher-Homji and Mike Gray. Original Jackets of course.

• Eight decades of Pianism on Decca from the 1940s – 2010s, sequenced alphabetically by artist
• From Bach and Scarlatti to the 20th century, including a brush with Jazz, solo repertoire, piano concertos and concertante works
• Six important ‘schools’ of piano playing represented – German, French and Russian, Spanish, English, American
• From the great sovereigns of the piano to the younger generation of artists of today
• A truly international release with artists from five continents
• Includes previously unpublished recordings and many of the featured recordings making their first appearance on CD
• Extensive booklet with notes by Cyrus Meher-Homji on the artists and recordings, and Mike Gray on the evolution of the recording technology

HIGHLIGHTS
• Decca’s first FFRR concerto recording available for the first time: Eileen Joyce / Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto – never released on 78rpm and long thought lost, the test pressings were recently found at the International Piano Archives in Maryland
• Includes the only Decca recordings by piano luminaries Argerich, Rubinstein, Lipatti, Michelangeli, Bernstein and Haskil
• Select recordings played on composers’ own pianos – Thibaudet playing Chopin’s piano, Schiff and Malcolm on Mozart’s fortepiano
• Award-winning recordings include: Larrocha Ravel Concertos [Grammy Award], Mustonen Shostakovich 24 Preludes [Edison and Gramophone Awards]
• Previously unpublished recordings included – Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 with Joyce; Argerich/Schumann with Chailly [first time on CD – her first Decca recording]
• First International CD releases include: Rogé: Bartok Concertos 1-3 · Kathleen Long: Mozart Concerto No. 24 (Van Beinum) · Friedrich Gulda’s first Decca recordings · Eden & Tamir: Two-Piano Encores · Kempff’s early Decca recordings of sonatas by Schubert and shorter pieces by Bach, Handel, Rameau, Couperin, Beethoven, et.al. · Wilhelm Backhaus’ 1954 Carnegie Hall Recital

REPERTOIRE
• All five Beethoven Concertos: Gulda (Nos.1&2), Lupu (Nos.3&5), Haskil (No.4), Mustonen (Violin Concerto, transcription for piano)
• Both Brahms Concertos: Rubinstein (No.1), Ashkenazy (No.2); the Ravel Concertos with Larrocha (Grammy-Award winning recordings)
• Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra (Kun-Woo Paik)
• Mozart Concertos on fortepiano (Levin) and pianoforte (Curzon, Long Bernstein)
• Encores/Transcriptions from Kempff (his own transcriptions of Bach, Beethoven and Handel); Cherkassky’s first Decca recording “Kaleidoscope” (complete on CD internationally for the first time); Grainger’s arrangements of Fauré and Gerswin on “The American Virtuoso” – one of the most captivating Argo recordings from the 90s with the ‘rebirth’ of the label; and Godowsky’s notoriously difficult arrangements of Chopin’s Études and Waltzes
• Music-making with friends: Piano Four-Hands and Two Pianos – Schiff & Malcolm, Ashkenazy & Previn, Katchen & Marty, Curzon & Britten; Rogé & Ortiz; Eden & Tamir

Product Features

• Shrink-wrapped