Hans Knappertsbusch

The extraordinary Russian pianist, Valery Afanassiev, studied the piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Emil Gilels and Yakov Zak. In 1968 (or 1969) he was prize-winner at the Bach Competition in Leipzig. In 1972 he was awarded the 1st prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth (Queen Elizabeth) in Brussels, Belgium...

This extraordinary pianist studied the piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Emil Gilels and Yakov Zak…

The Decca recordings of Kirsten Flagstad are the astonishing last chapter of a performing career that began more than four decades earlier. Unknown in most of Europe and the rest of the world until she was 39, Flagstad had made her singing debut in 1913. Encouraged by her second husband, she sang at the Bayreuth Festivals of 1933 and 1934, and her sensational Met debut as Sieglinde in Die Walküre in February 1935 marked the beginning of a second career as, arguably, the most important singer in the world.

175 years ago, on March 28th 1842, Otto Nicolai raised the baton for the first ever concert of a new ensemble destined to become one of the world's great orchestras. The Wiener Philharmoniker 175th Anniversary Edition offers a hand-picked selection on 44 CDs of the best albums of the orchestra released on the label. Presented in a luxury box with matt lamination and hot-foil printed gold, the box includes original cover art, rare photographs from the Wiener Philharmoniker Archives as well as two new essays by Dr. Silvia Kargl, Head of the Historic Archive of the Vienna Philharmonic, and Richard Evidon. With a Bonus DVD of the famous 1989 New Year's Concert conducted by Carlos Kleiber.