In recognition of his 40th anniversary with the label, Sony Classical is proud to present Murray Perahia: The First 40 Years. This limited- edition box set includes the artist’s complete recordings for Sony Classical on 68 CDs packaged in mini sleeves featuring the original album cover artwork.
The late Charles Rosen’s renown as a writer, scholar, musical thinker, and teacher tends to overshadow his reputation as a pianist. However, at his best Rosen was a probing virtuoso who embraced a wide, eclectic, and seemingly contradictory range of repertoire. All the more reason to celebrate Sony/BMG’s original jacket boxed set devoted to Rosen’s complete Columbia and Epic recordings, many of which have not been available on CD.
With the stresses and strains of modern life to contend with, many turn to classical music for solace and this varied collection of over seven and a half hours of relaxing favorites is the perfect antidote to the pressures of modern life. The set is themed and starts with two CDs of choral music, many of which are vocal arrangements of familiar favorites. These are followed by CDs devoted respectfully to flute and harp, the classical guitar, piano and orchestral music. Those who enjoyed the 101 Adagios set will find much to enjoy here, and can be reassured that any duplication is kept to an absolute minimum and where it does occur, is in strikingly different arrangements. The artists at the helm of this relaxing journey include the choirs of King s College Cambridge and the New College Oxford, flautist William Bennett and harpist Marisa Robles, Pepe Romero, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert von Karajan and Sir Georg Solti.
Frank Merrick was a tireless champion of the causes in which he believed and these causes extended well beyond the field of music. Although his name is associated with the piano music of a range of composers as diverse as John Field and Prokofiev, Schubert and Arnold Bax, he also campaigned with the suffragettes, was imprisoned during the First World War as a Conscientious Objector and over many years advocated the use of the universal language Esperanto. Between 1898-1901 Frank Merrick studied in Vienna with the celebrated teacher, Theodor Leschetizky, and he made his London debut aged 16 in 1903. This release features a selection of the best performances transferred from the ‘Frank Merrick Society’ and the ‘Rare Recorded Edition’ LPs of the 1960s.
Russia is vast, and so is this 25-disc tribute to the great piano school of Russia-from the long-famous icons to the more recent inheritors of this ineffably proud tradition. Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lazar Berman and many others display their subtly various approaches to phrasing and timbre as they perform the great works of the Russian canon and composers across Europe.
At the end of his life, Horowitz had chosen to record for Deutsche Grammophon. The Hamburg label reissues all of its recordings, 6 CDs, commemorating the centenary of the birth of the pianist.