Haydn Ormandy

Sony Classcial celebrates the art of Sviatoslav Richter (1995-1997) – one of the 20th century’s greatest pianists – with the first-ever release of his complete Columbia Masterworks and RCA Victor live and studio recordings in an 18 CD original jacket edition, underneath Richter’s legendary five October 1960 Carnegie Hall recitals.

Phillips' Great Pianists of the 20th Century issue has gotten a lot of publicity in the ten or so years since it has been released. In a musical niche suffering from falling revenues, it was a decent seller. But it left many connoisseurs disappointed, as the quality was limited to the fancy packaging.

The Szell/Cleveland Recordings Complete! In the heyday of George Szell s tenure as its chief conductor, declared Gramophone, The Cleveland Orchestra had few if any peers among the world s great orchestras. Coinciding with the orchestra s centenary in 2018, Sony Classical is excited to announce one of the most ambitious reissue projects of recent times, a comprehensive collection of the Clevelanders recordings made under the baton of their iconic fourth music director.

This Sony-made 30CD classical music collection covers almost all classical music, from the early Baroque period represented by Bach to the schools of classical music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms represent romantic, national and even modern musical schools led by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, etc. representative, everything wonderful and vivid.

Isaac Stern may have begun his career as "just" a virtuoso of the violin, but his legacy exists as so much more. A consummate and passionate musician if there ever was one, he was also an ambassador of classical music to the American people, the savior of Carnegie Hall, and a mentor to countless students. This two-disc set entitled The Essential Isaac Stern reveals but the tip of the iceberg of his legacy. The first disc is devoted to single movements of eight of his appearances with orchestra, in particular the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, with whom he had a long-standing, highly successful relationship. The works selected do not entirely reflect the breadth of his repertoire. The same is true of the second disc, which focuses on his many chamber music recordings with some of the greatest musicians of the last century, including Pablo Casals, Leonard Rose, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yo-Yo Ma to name but a few.

Alexis Weissenberg The Complete RCA Album Collection brings together all of the pianist s 1967/70 RCA Victor sessions for the first time in one place and remastered from the original analog sources, along with his 1949 recorded début that first appeared as a ten-inch Columbia Masterworks LP. The recordings include Chopin s Scherzi Nos. 1 and 2 and Sonata No. 3 in B minor, three Haydn Sonatas, a Debussy recital, Bartók s Piano Concerto No. 2, plus interpretations of Rachmaninoff s complete Préludes and Piano Concerto No. 3 that became modern-day reference versions. The booklet contains full discographical information and an essay by Jed Distler.

The Masterworks Heritage series, issued in the mid-90s, received outstanding critical acclaim for the choice of repertoire and recordings, for the editorial /packaging and the splendid remastering of early mono and stereo tape masters, This 28-CD-box set contains 20 of the best Masterworks Heritage releases. The CDs are in paper-sleeves with the original artwork of the former CD/LP. The booklet with tracklisting and the original liner notes in in English, all presented in special 2-part-box with slider.