Prokofiev Edition

Fans of Leonard Bernstein will not want to miss the chance to snap up this limited edition 60-CD set, Bernstein Symphony Edition. With a list price of just over two dollars per disc, it's a bargain not to be missed. What's most impressive about these recordings of well over 100 symphonies made between 1953 and 1976, almost all of which feature the New York Philharmonic, is the scope and depth of Bernstein's repertoire.

As part of Deutsche Grammophon’s release of a limited and numbered edition of Claudio Abbado’s complete recordings for DG, Decca and Philips, you can now enjoy Volume 11 in a series of 16 digital albums, which are organised in alphabetical order of composer name. This eleventh digital album presents music by Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Ravel.

For collectors of recordings by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer, this 10-disc set called Historical Russian Archives will be just the thing to fill the stray gaps in his discography. Recorded between 1967 and 1992, the sound here ranges from the acceptable to the outstanding, and featuring works from Bach's Chaconne to Salmanov's Second Violin Sonata, the repertoire ranges from the extremely well known to the almost unknown…

Limited 96 CD set. Conductor, pianist, composer and media personality, André Previn excelled in a diversity of musical genres and idioms. A child prodigy in his native Berlin, he moved to the USA in 1939 and made his early career in Hollywood, winning four Academy Awards. His time as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (1968-1979) established him as a major interpreter of symphonic repertoire, particularly Russian, French and British music - "The very definition of good conducting," wrote Gramophone of his celebrated LSO version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.

Mercury Living Presence is special in many ways - an American company, from the heyday of classical recording in the U.S. that reproduced some of the most sonically realistic recordings at the dawn of the stereo era. Precious few stereo LPs were pressed when these recordings were issued, and they became some of the rarest, most collectible classical discs ever. Mercury Living Presence continues to enjoy a special reputation as one of the most enterprising, prestigious and sonically-spectacular labels in the history of classical recording.

These early recordings (1950-52) were made while Sviatoslav Richter was still playing this kind of virtuoso Russian music, an area he largely abandoned later in his life. If you enjoy the trivial Rimsky and Glazunov concertos, you'll get a real kick out of the colorful virtuosity of these performances, pretty well conveyed by the recordings although they don't really do justice to Richter's tone. But Richter did make another recording of the Prokofiev, with Karel Ancerl, which is currently available on Supraphon and has a much better orchestra. In either case, the pianist gives this insouciant music all the juice it needs.

Given the depth, range and quality of the Deutsche Grammophon catalogue, it’s hardly been difficult to put together another anthology of great recordings and great artists. The structure is as before – here are 53 original albums (including three double-sets), featuring the great names of Deutsche Grammophon’s recording history, presented, once more, in alphabetical order of artist. Claudio Abbado leads off with a complete Carmen and Krystian Zimerman rounds off with his memorable account of the Chopin Ballades.

Avie introduces the brilliant young Romanian pianist Alexandra Silocea who offers some of her signature repertoire on her debut recording, the first five Piano Sonatas of Prokofiev. Dubbed “Alexandra the Great” by Gramophone who announced her debut recording, the 26-year-old trained in Vienna and Paris, and is now resident in the UK. In 2003, while studying at Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, she was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Scholarship, the latest in a string of prizes from competitions throughout Europe. Alexandra made her professional debut in 2008 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Recital debuts followed in 2009 at the Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and le Salon de Musique in Paris.