01 Rhapsody Concerto I. Moderato

Mikhail Pletnev and the newly formed Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO) performed under the baton of Kent Nagano all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in October 2023.

Mikhail Pletnev and the newly formed Rachmaninoff International Orchestra (RIO) performed under the baton of Kent Nagano all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in October 2023.

29th January 2012 sees the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Frederick Delius. To celebrate this occasion, Decca will release, on 24th January 2012, a special 8CD Commemorative Special Edition Box Set, containing many of the greatest Delius recordings on Decca, featuring a great cast of artists and performers, including Thomas Hampson, Julian Lloyd Webber, the Fitzwilliam Quartet, London Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner & Sir Charles Mackerras.

To celebrate the 150th birthday of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Yuja Wang joined the L.A. Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel to perform all four of the composer's piano concertos and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini over two consecutive weekends. This ambitious project took place at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the city where Rachmaninoff spent the last months of his life.

This release features a collection of what might be called piano orphans: commercial and non-commercial recordings of great pianists that simply have never found their way onto compact disc. Among these treasures are fifteen minutes of Dinu Lipatti playing Scarlatti and Brahms that have only recently surfaced; an unpublished disc of Alfred Cortot playing the “Russian Dance” from Petroushka; and previously unpublished excerpts of the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto played by Vladimir Horowitz with the Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded during a 1932 concert conducted by Fritz Reiner and recorded as an experiment by the Bell Telephone Laboratory. This is Horowitz's earliest known concert performance and is in amazing sound for that time. It is unfortunate that the entire concerto was not recorded, but hearing these excerpts will be a revelation for Horowitz fans. Also included are live concerto performances by Lev Puishnov and Guiomar Novaes. We feel certain that piano enthusiasts worldwide will treasure this 2-CD set as nothing like it has been heard since Gregor Benko produced his acclaimed Landmarks of Recorded Pianism LP forty years ago.