Jacqueline du Pre’s career, though tragically brief, coincided with a golden age of recording. This 17-disc treasury unites her entire EMI Classics legacy and includes – for the first time on CD – two Bach sonata movements from her 1962 debut recital for the label. Interpretations long recognised as classic are joined by further rarities, among them the Lalo Cello Concerto, recorded with Daniel Barenboim and the Cleveland Orchestra in 1973, and, from 1968, Strauss’s Don Quixote under Sir Adrian Boult. This collection includes the very latest Abbey Road remasters of Du Pré’s recordings in one definitive boxed set and offers the listener the ultimate listening experience with a fantastic clarity of sound and dynamic range. The collection includes a full-colour 32-page booklet detailing the life and art of Du Pré in both words and pictures as well as a timeline overview of her career.
VIVARTE is the legendary Sony Classical period music label known for producing outstanding recordings on period instruments. The recordings by legendary producer Wolf Erichson are done with the best recording technologies and by one of the best production teams in the world (Tritonus Music Production, Stuttgart). The label started producing when Sony Classical was founded (in 1989). The production came to a standstill recently when Wolf Erichson retired and DHM became the new label of period music within Sony Classical. Among the outstanding artists which recorded for Vivarte are: Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, Jos Van Immerseel, Tafelmusik, Huelgas Ensemble and others.
Naturally, this 14-disc set of live recordings of the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1970 through 1980 is only for the hardest of hardcore collectors. Who else would be interested in a collection that mixes Beethoven with Boulez, Baird and Berio, Tchaikovsky with Lutoslawski, Ginastera and Caplet, Rachmaninov with Reger, and Martin and Walton?
This set of 20 CDs presents virtually everything that was recorded by Steinberg during the seven years that he recorded for Capitol: from the Schubert Second Symphony, recorded on 9 February 1952, to the Italian Serenade by Wolf, from 16 April 1959. There are some exceedingly good performances in this set and the recordings show that Capitol Records were at the technical forefront when it came to sound quality and production values.
The collection gathers the best relaxing tunes from the piano repertoire performed by most eminent musicians: Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand Chamayou, Aldo Ciccolini, Samson François, Hélène Grimaud, Stephen Kovacevich, Nicolai Lugansky, Maria-João Pires, Maurizio Pollini, Anne Queffélec, Alexandre Tharaud and Alexis Weissenberg.