Leif Ove Chopin

Leif Ove Andsnes is a leading pianist of his time, known for his exceptional musicianship and subtil touch, his considerable technical flair being unfailingly put at the service of his interpretations. He was a pioneer for being the first home-trained superstar pianist to have emerged from Norway. This box is the story of a 20-year partnership that has yielded a rich seam of recorded treasures, first for Virgin and then for EMI. Running through this cornucopia of 34 albums (36 CDs), we find recurring themes: Grieg (Andsnes even recorded some Lyric Pieces on the composer’s own piano at Troldhaugen), Nordic music in general, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Schubert.

Chopin wasn’t one for endowing his compositions with poetic titles. Unlike his contemporary Robert Schumann, the composer kept the titles of his work fairly simple, with no literary references such as those found in the poetic evocations of Carnaval or Kinderszenen to assist the imagination. But when, in the mid-1830s, Chopin presented a new piece naming it “Ballade,” Schumann noted that Chopin was the first to apply this literary term to a musical work. What was the nature of this new genre for solo piano? What kind of story was it telling?

The first part of this recording (and the first playing I had heard Andsnes do) that I heard was the third sonata, a piece that has had a lot of recordings by the great pianists through the years. What struck me were two things: a sense of spaciousness, letting the music and the phrases "breathe", and, along with that, a sense of proportion. Andsnes, here and in other recordings I have heard of his, has the guts to _not_ show off, (although, clearly, he has the fingers to do so) but, more than any other Chopin pianist I have ever heard (with the exception of Moravec), somehow illuminates Chopin's phrasing in the most natural way.

Leif Ove Andsnes has made many excellent recordings for Virgin and EMI over the long years of his association with those two labels. One thinks of his harrowing Janácek, his exhilarating Grieg, his ravishing Chopin, and his staggering Nielsen discs. Unfortunately, this two-disc set coupling Schubert's last four piano sonatas is not one of Andsnes' better efforts. It's not that his technique isn't as impressive as before.

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.

Treasures is a new series of 3-CD sets drawn from the catalogs of Virgin Classics, presenting the best loved and key works of the classical repertoire at a very attractive price. These timeless masterpieces are performed by world-class performers including Natalie Dessay, Yehudi Menuhin, Mikhail Pletnev, Riccardo Muti, and Andre Previn. The Treasures series provides a wide overview of the must haves in each of these popular genres.

With more than 7 hours of tender music by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Debussy, Puccini and more, performed by greats like Luciano Pavarotti, Andre Previn and Jose Carreras, this set can complete any romantic evening at home. And if we can't play upon your heart strings, 100 classics for this low price is quite a deal.

Dinu Lipatti- the Master Pianist plays Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Grieg, Schumann, Bartok and Schubert on this seven CD set. Dinu Lipatti (1917- 1950) was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was tragically cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. Despite his short career and a relatively small recorded legacy, Lipatti is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century.