Piano Sonata n° 5 Sharp

Jascha Heifetz was a Lithuanian-born American violinist. He was born in Vilnius. As a teen, he moved with his family to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He had a long and successful performing and recording career; after an injury to his right (bowing) arm, he focused on teaching. The New York Times called him "perhaps the greatest violinist of all time."

A genius signed to Decca in 1946 who defined Deccas piano sound in the 1950s and 1960s with ravishing cantabile and depth of sonority borne of matchless technique. Complete Decca Recordings on 35CDs, including new-to-CD early recordings remastered from 78s, plus some of Deccas first-ever LPs.
Presentation includes 35CD Lift-off- lid box; notes by Cyrus Meher-Homji in English, German and French; rare photos and selected original covers in booklet. A child prodigy of startling promise, Julius Katchen matured into a pianist of broad interests and unique artistry. His death at age 42 denied a discerning public the presence of one of Deccas star instrumentalists during the 1950s and 1960s.

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.

Gil Shaham took up the violin aged seven and a mere three years later debuted as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Less than a year later, Shaham performed with Israel's foremost orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta. Shaham has since performed with many of the world's leading orchestras. His recordings for Deutsche Grammaphon reveal a broad repertoire and not least an affinity to the music of the twentieth century.

Listeners might quibble over whether the 100 pieces collected here constitute precisely THE most relaxing classical music in the whole universe, but it can't be denied that this music is in fact mellow and relaxing, except for perhaps the Prelude to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, which might get the blood pumping at its climax. The pieces are all instrumental and the tracks are weighted toward orchestral music of the Baroque, Romantic, and post-Romantic periods, although the Classical and Modern periods aren't entirely neglected, and there is some chamber music and keyboard music.