Russian

: This is a transfer from analog cassette tape to digital. A very rare opportunity to hear a young Virssaladze. My intention in posting this is to give our Russian friends the opportunity of listening to one of their co-nationals on a South American Tour in Buenos Aires during 1976. The announcer is the official Radio Municipal de Buenos Aires broadcast from the theatre on the day of the concert.

Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Among the most prestigious competitions that Fischer has won are the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition under Lord Yehudi Menuhin's supervision, where she won both the first prize and the special prize for best Bach solo work performance in 1995 and the Eighth Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists in 1996, which was broadcast in 22 countries from Lisbon. In 1997, Fischer was awarded the “Prix d'Espoir” by the Foundation of European Industry.In fall 2004 the label PentaTone released Julia Fischer's first CD: Russian violin concertos with Yakov Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra. It received rave reviews, climbed into to the top five bestselling classical records in Germany within a few days, and received an "Editor's Choice" from "Gramophone" in January 2005.

In this continuation of his successful series of ‘songs without words' – songs for voice and piano transcribed for cello and piano – Mischa Maisky left the Austro-Germanic repertoire he had previously explored behind and turned to the songs of his motherland in this disc of Russian songs called "Vocalise." For fans of Maisky's earlier discs of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms, no more needed to be said: the same sweetly singing tone, the same warm-hearted phrasing, the same vibrato, portamento and glissando that distinguished Maisky's those discs was fully present here. From Glinka's lighthearted "The Lark" to Tchaikovsky's aching "None but the Lonely Heart" to Glazunov's yearning "Desire" to Rachmaninoff's melancholic "Sing Not to Me, Beautiful Maiden," Maisky was as wholly committed to these songs as he was to those of Schubert and his performances with pianist Pavel Gililov were as convincing as could be imagined. While this might not work for those who prefer their songs with words or their cello music abstract, for lovers of cello music who wish the 19th century repertoire contained more short but affecting works by Russian composers, Maisky's disc will be just the thing.

Grigory Ginsburg is another of those obscure Russian pianists whose LPs are highly sought by collectors. He was a major league virtuoso with an outgoing temperament, although he could give intelligent performances of mainstream classical music as well…