Alfred Cortot

Igor Markevitch was a leading conductor, known for brilliant performances, especially of twentieth century music. He was also a composer who attracted some interest in his own day. His parents left Kiev when he was two years old. Markevitch was brought up in Vevey, Switzerland. He took piano lessons from his father and then with Paul Loyonnet and also started to compose.

While Anthony Newman has worn many hats on the musical stage, he is best known as an organist, especially for his interpretations of the works of Bach. In recent years, he has attracted considerable attention as a fortepianist; his 1989 recording of the Beethoven Third Piano Concerto received a Recording of the Year award from Stereo Review. He has concertized widely, often performing his own works, and has recorded for many labels, with about 140 total releases by the end of the twentieth century.

Andante's deluxe package of Schubert's chamber music masterpieces includes classic performances that retain their glories. The Cortot-Thibaud-Casals Trio in the Piano Trio No. 1 and the Busch Trio's Piano Trio No. 2, for example, still reign supreme for insightful, warm interpretations, here transferred with presence and color. Busch's violin Fantasy, too, has only been bettered by Szigeti's performance, and the Kreisler-Rachmaninoff recording of the Grand Duo Violin Sonata has always been–and always will be–in a class by itself.

George Enescu was first and foremost one of the great violinists of his day, but he was also a brilliant pianist, admired by pianist colleagues of the calibre of Alfred Cortot, who stated that Enescu had a better piano technique than Cortot himself. And it is obvious that some of this music puts the pianist to severe test. The music is also extremely diversified.