Piano Sonata n° 5 Sharp

Angela Hewitt is rapidly establishing herself as one of the great pianists of our age. Her concert career is expanding as rapidly as her discography, so it seems only right that, following her success in tackling one of the pillars of classical music in Bach, she should tackle another in Beethoven. Hewitt s legion of fans will be delighted at this eagerly awaited third volume of Beethoven sonatas. Her first two releases in this series were praised for their clarity, intelligence and elegance and all these trademark qualities of her playing are fully present in this third disc. Four contrasting sonatas are presented here, including the famous Moonlight Sonata, which needs no introduction.

Russia is vast, and so is this 25-disc tribute to the great piano school of Russia-from the long-famous icons to the more recent inheritors of this ineffably proud tradition. Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lazar Berman and many others display their subtly various approaches to phrasing and timbre as they perform the great works of the Russian canon and composers across Europe.

Julius Katchen performs the composer's work whom he most favored; again, highly-esteemed recordings among classical cognoscenti.

Often named the supreme pianist of his era, Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was a poet of the keyboard and an enigmatic, sometimes eccentric figure. These 24 CDs span three centuries of music – repertoire for solo piano and piano duo, chamber music, song and concerto – and bring Richter together with other great artists of his time. As the New York Times wrote, his pianism “combined astonishing technical mastery with bold, wide-ranging musical imagination. His control over the colorings of piano tone was incomparable.”

Pianophiles will warmly embrace and find much to enjoy in this 10 CD set of the complete studio recordings of the Australian pianist Eileen Joyce (1908-1991). It's the first time such a comprehensive collection has been compiled. Her recorded legacy has been unjustly neglected over the years, save for single CDs from labels such as Dutton, Testament and Pearl. Only APR have seriously championed her cause with a 5-CD set: ‘The Complete Parlophone and Columbia Solo Recordings 1933-1945’, issued in 2011 (review). Needless to say, all of those recordings are to be found in this new Eloquence edition.

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Glenn Gould’s legendary Goldberg Variations.
Glenn Gould Remastered – The Complete Album Collection refurbishes Gould’s complete approved studio recordings using state-of-the-art Direct Stream Digital (DSD) transfer and 24 bit/96 kHz mastering technology in a 81 CDs limited edition. The 416 page book includes complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself), a wealth of facsimile documents, rare photographs, full discographical information, and a newly commissioned introductory essay by Gould scholar and biographer Kevin Bazzana.

Maria João Pires “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin,” wrote Gramophone in 1974. “She conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole … Best of all, she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.” This Portuguese pupil of Wilhelm Kempff, Pires was one of the artists who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s. This 5-CD box gathers together the recordings she made over the period from 1976 to 1985 and it reflects the consistent focus of her repertoire, with its special emphasis on Austro-German composers of the Classical and early-Romantic periods. Embracing solo works, piano duets and concertos, it contains works by Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, but also by Bach and Chopin.

Paul Lewis performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas on tour in the USA and Europe between the 2005 and 2007 seasons, in parallel with his complete recording of the cycle for Harmonia Mundi. His interpretation of the Lizst sonata was distinguished by the prestigious Edison Award, while his recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas received two Gramophone Awards in 2008.