Lazar Bermarn Sony

I have many versions of this great concerto. My first ever exposure to this work was a recording by Witold Malcuzynski that I have now acquired on CD. Since the 1960s I have collected recordings by many great pianists including Bronfman, Glemser, Ashkenazy, Janis, Gilels, Vasary, Horowitz, Lympany, Gieseking, Helfgott, de Larrocha, Rachmaninoff, Wild, Kapell, Bolet, Argerich, Malcuzynski - and just when I thought I'd heard all the Rach 3 had to say, along comes this sublime recording by the late great Lazar Berman. The playing is clear, romantic, musically intelligent, exciting and enjoyable and satisfying in every way.

The Transcendental Études (French: Études d'exécution transcendante), S.139, are a set of twelve compositions for piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of an 1837 set (which had not borne the title "d'exécution transcendante"), which in turn were – for the most part – an elaboration of a set of studies written in 1826.

Liszt's three volumes of Annees de pelerinage are rarely recorded complete, largely because many pianists remain baffled by the dark-hued prophecy and romanticism of the third and final book. So it is particularly gratifying to welcome Lazar Berman's superb 1977 DG recordings back into the catalogue, particularly when so finely remastered on CD. Berman is hardly celebrated as the most subtle or refined of pianists, but at his greatest he combines grandeur and sensibility to a rare degree and his response to Book Three, in particular, is of the highest musical quality and poetic insight.

Hailed by some as the third primary figure among great Russian pianists of the twentieth century's second half, Lazar Berman has occasionally lived up to that reputation, but frequently has not. Emil Gilels, the first genius-level Soviet pianist to become well-known in the West, insisted that there was one artist, yet unheard in the West, who was the greater artist. Later, after Sviatoslav Richter's arrival in Europe and America, most felt Gilels had been correct. Still later, however, Gilels maintained that yet another pianist, Lazar Berman, was the finest of the three. After the initial stir created by Berman's 1976 American tour and other appearances in the West, critical opinion held that, while he was an extraordinary if uneven artist, he was not superior to the protean Richter or to the clear-minded Gilels. Still, his art was of an order by no means common.

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.

Sony Classical releases a comprehensive homage to Abbado, acknowledged as one of the greatest of all conductors, by releasing a 39 CD boxset comprising his complete recordings for both RCA and CBS/Sony with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as with the London Symphony Orchestra and featuring such stellar soloists as Murray Perahia, Martha Argerich, Midori, Cecile Licad and Lazar Berman.

Sam Lazar - Space Flight (1960) {Universal Victor Japan MVCJ-19120 rel 1998}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 224 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 79 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 36 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1998 Argo / MCA / Universal Victor Japan | MVCJ-19120
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Organ Hammond B-3

Space Flight is an album recorded by organist Sam Lazar on June 1, 1960 for Argo Records. This was Lazar's debut recording, and the second recording by guitarist Grant Green. It seems that Sam Lazar only made three LPs during his musical career and all of them were for Chicago's Chess family of labels and released on their now largely forgotten but hugely important jazz imprint Argo Records. Lazar is certainly an early pioneer of the soul/blues drenched genre of organ players and his albums are highly collectable amongst Hammond B3 collectors.

Nach dem nun schon viele Jahre ungebrochen andauernden Erfolg der Kuschelrock-Reihe, mausert sich auch das Pendant aus der Klassik zielsicher zu einem Hit. Was nicht verwundert, denn auch Klassikfans wollen romantisch sein. Während bei Kuschelrock in letzter Zeit der Trend allerdings zu mehr Charts-Titeln und daher zu einem eher geringeren Kuschelfaktor ging, blieb Kuschelklassik dem Kuscheln treu. Auch auf Volume 7 wird wieder eine Klassikauswahl präsentiert, die romantische, zärtliche Stunden für Genießer mit gehobeneren Ansprüchen garantiert.

The late Lazar Berman (1930-2005) recorded two complete cycles of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes for Melodiya. His 1959 version appeared in the long-deleted BMG/Melodiya Russian Piano School CD reissue series. The 1963 remake presented here was briefly available via Japanese Victor and as part of a three-disc set on the independent Venezia label, while Columbia Masterworks brought it out on LP in the mid-’70s to tie in with the pianist’s first American tour.