Yo Yo Ma 30 Years Outside The Box [90cd] (2009) .flac

Sony Music is proud to announce the worldwide release of Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box, a deluxe box set of Yo-Yo Ma's recorded legacy. This elaborate, numbered, limited-edition box will celebrate Yo-Yo Ma's 30th Anniversary with the label. Created with the full participation of Yo-Yo Ma, 30 Years Outside the Box, is the definitive collection of this iconic artist in a presentation as beautiful and timeless as the music itself.

This release celebrates and commemorates Yo-Yo Ma's 30 year recording career with Sony Music. Created with the full participation of Yo-Yo Ma, 30 Years Outside the Box, is the definitive collection of this iconic artist. The box set contains every original album Yo-Yo Ma has recorded including 2 discs of rare and never before released material.

[A legend in his lifetime for his interpretations of Beethoven, Herbert von Karajan recorded a large swathe of the composer’s oeuvre. On this specially priced 13-CD box set, Karajan's complete Beethoven repertoire recorded by Deutsche Grammophon is presented for the first time – comprising his final, digital recordings of the Symphonies, the Piano Concertos (with Christoph Eschenbach and Alexis Weissenberg), Violin Concerto (Anne-Sophie Mutter) and Triple Concerto (with Mutter, Yo Yo Ma and Mark Zeltser), the Missa Solemnis, Overtures, Egmont Music, Wellington’s Victory, and a host of rarities, including the Grosse Fuge (arranged for orchestra), restored to the catalog. /quote]

This is a beautiful performance of the Suites, certainly one of my favorites. Ma tunes his strings down a half step, giving his cello a warmer, richer tone than his 80s recording (pink cover). All in all, the differences between the two recordings are startling, and it is very interesting to compare the two. I especially like the more dancelike movements (examples: Suite 1 - Courante, Suite 2 - Minuets), and don't believe that anyone else plays them with as much elegance, which I think is the greatest attribute of Yo-Yo Ma's recordings.

Jorge Federico Osorio, “an imaginative interpreter with a powerful technique (The New York Times), deftly pairs Brahms’s final solo piano works with those by Schubert for an inventive program of richly satisfying works that capture the essence of each composer’s towering individuality.

Few record labels can boast as glorious a legacy as Sony Classical. This lavish four-disc set chronicles the finest performances available on the label from the past ninety-five years. Eighty selections comprising over four hours of music are accompanied by two lavishly illustrated booklets highlighting Sony Classical's stellar history.

Leon Fleisher is considered a living legend among the distinguished American pianists who emerged in the late forties and early fifties. Students travel from all over the globe to work with him or even just sit in on his master classes. The new 23-CD box set, Leon Fleisher: The Complete Album Collection, defines the personal and musical twists of his career.