This month’s heavyweights include the complete works of Hector Berlioz on Warner Classics, a comprehensive survey of the piano étude from Czerny to Cage, Seiji Ozawa’s complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, and a portrait of Bernard Haitink at 90.
Virtuoso Piano Etudes
Vincenzo Maltempo, Peter Frankl, Alessandro Marangoni, Vanessa Benelli Mosell et al
22 CDs charting the development of the keyboard study, including Liszt’s monumental Études d'exécution transcendante, Rachmaninov’s Études-Tableaux Opp. 33 and 39, Alkan’s Études in the major and minor keys, and music by Scriabin, Debussy, Czerny, Heller, Chaminade, Ligeti, Earl Wild, and Philip Glass.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
To mark the Dutch conductor’s 90th birthday on 4th March, BR Klassik present an 11-CD collection of his Munich recordings made between 1997 and 2017, including the Beethoven Missa solemnis, Haydn’s Creation and Seasons, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6, and his acclaimed recent interpretations of Mahler’s Third, Fourth and Ninth Symphonies.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
This 10-CD anthology opens with the American pianist’s legendary performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto in the finals of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow 1958, and closes with the studio recording of the same work which he made shortly after his victory. Also includes concertos by Prokofiev, MacDowell, Schumann, Brahms, Beethoven, and Rachmaninov.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
The longest-serving artistic director in the world, choreographer John Neumeier took up his position at the Hamburg Ballet in 1973 and celebrates his eightieth birthday later this month. This 8-DVD boxed set features four of his most iconic productions: Nijinsky, Christmas Oratorio, The Little Mermaid, and Tatiana, described by the Hamburger Morgenpost as ‘three hours of danced poetry’.
Available Format: 8 DVD Videos
Now 77, the Turkish concert-pianist made her first commercial recording in 1959, and went on to become one of the most recorded pianists in history; this 6-CD box testifies to her breadth of repertoire, ranging from Scarlatti to Hindemith, and includes excerpts from her Diapason d’Or-winning album of Boulez as well as her complete Chopin series which won a Grand Prix du Disque in 1995.
Available Formats: 6 CDs, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
Newly remastered recordings from the Spanish Beethoven specialist (1905-1986), including the ten Beethoven sonatas which he recorded in 1958 (two decades before he eventually committed the entire cycle to disc), Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain (praised by High Fidelity the previous year for its ‘exceptional feeling for the style’), Granados’s Danzas españolos, and Bach’s Italian Concerto.
Available Formats: FLAC/ALAC/WAV, MP3
