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Maurizio Pollini - Frederic Chopin: Late Works, Opp.59-64 (2017)

Posted By: Designol
Maurizio Pollini - Frederic Chopin: Late Works, Opp.59-64 (2017)

Maurizio Pollini - Frédéric Chopin: Late Works, Opp.59-64 (2017)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 168 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 127 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 479 6127 | Time: 00:54:35

Esteemed for almost 60 years as one of the greatest Chopin interpreters, Maurizio Pollini confirms his preeminence with this 2017 release on Deutsche Grammophon, and offers his first all-Chopin disc since 2012. Chopin's late works were composed between 1845 and 1849, and include the Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60, the 3 Mazurkas, Op. 59, the Polonaise-Fantaisie in A flat major, Op. 61, the 2 Nocturnes, Op. 62, the 3 Mazurkas, Op. 63, the 3 Waltzes, Op. 64, and the Mazurka in F minor, Op. Posth. 68, No. 4; they are notable for their harmonic richness and freedom of melodic embellishment, characteristics that made them especially influential among his Romantic contemporaries. Pollini's fluid phrasing and control of expression and dynamics have always given his performances sophistication and a feeling of balance, though these are engaging renditions that are far from cerebral or clinical, claims that critics have sometimes laid at Pollini's door. Yet listeners can hear for themselves how polished and deeply felt these performances are, and appreciate the artistic wholeness of Pollini's conceptions, from the elegance of the "Minute" Waltz to the sublime melancholy of the posthumous Mazurka in F minor. Highly recommended for fans of great piano music.

Andreas Brantelid, Marianna Shirinyan, Vilde Frang - Frederic Chopin: Cello Sonata; Piano Trio; Grand Duo (2010)

Posted By: Designol
Andreas Brantelid, Marianna Shirinyan, Vilde Frang - Frederic Chopin: Cello Sonata; Piano Trio; Grand Duo (2010)

Frédéric Chopin: Cello Sonata; Piano Trio; Grand Duo (2010)
Andreas Brantelid, cello; Marianna Shirinyan, piano; Vilde Frang, violin

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 278 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 165 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 50999 6 87742 2 6 | Time: 01:08:44

It is grand to hear novice players so successfully take on three of Chopin's chamber pieces, the Cello Sonata, Piano Trio, and Grand Duo for cello and piano. There have certainly been great recordings of these works in the past – one thinks immediately of those by Mstislav Rostropovich and Jacqueline du Pré – but the energy, enthusiasm, and sincerity that cellist Andreas Brantelid, pianist Marianna Shirinyan, and violinist Vilde Frang bring to this music more than justifies preserving their performances. Brantelid has a big but nuanced tone, an elegant but impressive technique, and an obvious affinity for the music, and he is well-matched by Shirinyan's polished technique and empathic accompaniments and Frang's easy virtuosity and lyrical interpretation. The ensemble is poised but comfortable and the interpretations are cogent and compelling. Captured in close but smooth digital sound, these performances deserve to be heard by anyone who loves this music, or great chamber music playing.

Sviatoslav Richter & VA - Music Festival 'December Nights', Moscow 1985: Schumann, Schubert, Chopin (2014) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
Sviatoslav Richter & VA - Music Festival 'December Nights', Moscow 1985: Schumann, Schubert, Chopin (2014) 2CDs

Music Festival 'December Nights', Moscow 1985: Schumann, Schubert, Chopin (2014) 2 CDs
Sviatoslav Richter, piano; Anatoly Kamyshev, clarinet; Oleg Kagan, violin;
Natalia Gutman, cello; Yuri Bashmet, viola

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 610 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 341 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Melodiya | # MEL CD 10 02204 | Time: 02:29:03

Firma Melodiya continues the series of compact discs dedicated to December Evenings Festival that takes place at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. This album, like the previous one, is dedicated to the 1985 festival World of Romanticism and includes recordings featuring Sviatoslav Richter. The atmosphere of December Evenings, an event initiated by the great pianist, differed from usual philharmonic concerts. The spirit of music as an inseparable part of "fusion of arts" the romanticists dreamt of was invisibly felt in each number; a sensitive listener can catch it in these, perhaps technically imperfect, concert recordings from thirty years ago. The works by Schubert, Schumann and Chopin were performed by Sviatoslav Richter in ensemble with his outstanding contemporaries, violinist and David Oistrakh's student Oleg Kogan who passed away prematurely, violist Yuri Bashmet, cellist Natalia Gutman and clarinettist Anatoly Kamyshov.

Dong Hyek Lim - Frederic Chopin: 24 Préludes; Barcarolle; Berceuse; Variations brillantes (2015)

Posted By: Designol
Dong Hyek Lim - Frederic Chopin: 24 Préludes; Barcarolle; Berceuse; Variations brillantes (2015)

Dong Hyek Lim - Frédéric Chopin: 24 Préludes; Barcarolle; Berceuse; Variations brillantes (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 180 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 144 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Warner Classics | # 0825646068883 | Time: 01:01:10

Pianist Dong Hyek Lim, a bit older than the youthful face in the graphics might suggest, has gained a reputation as a Chopin specialist, with restrained, often exquisitely detailed performances made for the small recital hall rather than for the concert hall. This was, of course, the kind of venue for which Chopin wrote most of his music, and this is a very fine tour through the much-recorded 24 Preludes, Op. 28, which form the centerpiece of this album. Lim does well to introduce things with the flashier and rarely played Variations brillantes in B flat major, Op. 12, commanding the listener's attention before delving into the Preludes, some of the most harmonically intricate music Chopin wrote. Sample any of the really famous Preludes, such as the Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4, for an idea of what Lim is up to here: he not only lingers over dissonances, but explores their potential directions with sensitivity and intelligence, all while keeping the top of the dynamic range not very high. Lim takes you back to the public world with the Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57, and Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60, which show him to be capable of a more brilliant style. London's Henry Wood Hall fits these pieces well, but Warner's engineers might have gone with even a more intense, intimate space for the preludes. In any event, the performance of those is one of the most absorbing to have come along in quite some time.

Nelson Freire - Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2; Ballade No.4; Berceuse; 3 Mazurkas; Polonaise heroique (2015)

Posted By: Designol
Nelson Freire - Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2; Ballade No.4; Berceuse; 3 Mazurkas; Polonaise heroique (2015)

Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2; Ballade No.4; Berceuse; 3 Mazurkas; Polonaise (2015)
Nelson Freire, piano; Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, conducted by Lionel Bringuier

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 230 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 158 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | # 478 5332 DH | Time: 01:05:42

In the third of three new landmark albums on the Decca label, Nelson Freire marks his 70th birthday year with a stunning recording of Chopin’s lyrical and brilliant Piano Concerto No. 2. The recording was made in Cologne with the Gurzenich-Orchester Koln and Lionel Bringuier, one of the most talked-about of the younger generation of conductors. The release also features some favorite Chopin solo works including a Ballade, Berceuse, Polonaise and three Mazurkas.

Piotr Anderszewski - Frederic Chopin: Ballades, Mazurkas, Pollonaises (2003) Reissue 2009

Posted By: Designol
Piotr Anderszewski - Frederic Chopin: Ballades, Mazurkas, Pollonaises (2003) Reissue 2009

Piotr Anderszewski - Frédéric Chopin: Ballades, Mazurkas, Pollonaises (2003)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 157 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 141 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | # 50999 685370 2 6 | Time: 01:00:25

Another example of superb programming, Piotr Anderszewski's Chopin recital on Virgin is brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed. Concentrating on the compoer's late works, Anderszewski's program starts with two sets of Mazurkas played with supple sensitivity and sympathetic poetry, builds through the last two Ballades played with dramatic intensity and terrific technique, climaxes in the last two Polonaises played with heroic grandeur and tremendous virtuosity, and closes with the tender and intimate Mazurka in F minor as an encore. Anderszewski's technique is imperious, his tone is sensual, his performances are emotional, and his interpretations are magisterial. Individually, each performance is strong and vital. Taken all together, the whole disc is more than the sum of its parts. Virgin's sound is warm but a bit close and sometimes a little too immediate.

Maurizio Pollini - Frederic Chopin: Nocturnes (2005) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
Maurizio Pollini - Frederic Chopin: Nocturnes (2005) 2CDs

Maurizio Pollini - Frédéric Chopin: Nocturnes (2005) 2CDs
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 255 Mb | Scans included | Time: 01:30:31
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # B0005804-02 GH2

Pollini's traversal of Chopin's 19 Nocturnes (he leaves out the pair of posthumous ones) is one of his finest recordings in years. His long-lined yet detailed performances are comparable to the very different ones that have long stood at the pinnacle of recorded sets. Not as serene as Artur Rubinstein's, not as philosophical as Claudio Arrau's, nor as warm as Ivan Moravec's, Pollini's interpretations have their own allure. One is the way he shapes the melodies with a natural flow enhanced by his tonal beauty, less lean and streamlined than his usual way with Romantic music.

Lucas Debargue - Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Lucas Debargue - Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel (2016)

Lucas Debargue - Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel (2016)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 243 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 181 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Sony Classical | # 88875192982 | Time: 01:17:28

The most-talked about artist of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition created huge excitement and world-wide media attention with his riveting background and “genius-like playing” (Boris Berezovksy). Debargue, who is 25, started the piano late at 11 years old, learning mostly in isolation. After dropping the instrument for three years to play in a rock band and study literature, he started formal piano training aged 20. Placed 4th, he was described by media as “the real winner” of the competition and received the Music Critics’ Association award as “the pianist whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom have impressed the critics as well as the audience.” Valery Gergiev, the competition’s chairman, broke protocol by letting Debargue play in the winners’ gala and not prizewinner Dmitry Masleev. Lucas Debargue's debut album is a live recording at the Salle Cortot in Paris and documents his first concert in his hometown after the competition. The centrepiece of his first recording is Ravel’s monumentally challenging Gaspard de la nuit.

Nicola Benedetti - The Violin (2013)

Posted By: Designol
Nicola Benedetti - The Violin (2013)

Nicola Benedetti - The Violin (2013)
Vivaldi, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Johannes Brahms, Arvo Pärt, Frédéric Chopin, P.I. Tchaikovsky
Jules Massenet, Max Bruch, Vittorio Monti, Nigel Hess, John Williams, Carlos Gardel

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 329 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 176 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | # 478 5338 DH | Time: 01:16:06

Just 26 years old, Nicola Benedetti has been making chart-topping recordings for 10 years. This album celebrates the best of those recordings, and her other successes – from winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2004, to her 2012 best-selling album ‘The Silver Violin’, the highest charting classical instrumental album in the UK of the last two decades. A collection of great violin music – from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending to the Tchaikovsky and Bruch violin concertos and Arvo Part’s Spiegel Im Spiegel. Featuring brand new recordings – Brahms’ invigorating Hungarian Dance no. 5, Monti’s ever-popular Czardas, and Chopin’s emotional Nocturne in C# minor. The album includes Nicola performing with leading orchestras and conductors, as well as some of her favorite chamber players. This album showcases the incredible range of Nicola’s playing and demonstrates her wide appeal. In January 2013 Nicola was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to music and charity.

Friedrich Gulda - Genie und Rebell (Genius and Rebel) (2010) 10 CD Box Set

Posted By: Designol
Friedrich Gulda - Genie und Rebell (Genius and Rebel) (2010) 10 CD Box Set

Friedrich Gulda - Genie und Rebell (Genius and Rebel) (2010) 10 CD Box Set
Mozart - Beethoven - Weber - Chopin - Debussy - Ravel - R. Strauss

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 1.59 Gb | Scans included | Time: 08:54:21
Genre: Classical | Label: Membran | # 233021

This compilation features recordings made between 1950 and 1959 and proves the outstanding pianist to be an equally brilliant and exciting performer of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel and Strauss. In addition the compilation boasts highlights from the legendary 1956 Birdland sessions.

Emil Gilels in Ensembles (2014) 4CD Box Set

Posted By: Designol
Emil Gilels in Ensembles (2014) 4CD Box Set

Emil Gilels in Ensembles (2014) 4CD Box Set
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 915 Mb | Scans ~ 39 Mb | Time: 04:04:38
Genre: Classical | Label: Melodiya | # MEL CD 10 02210

Firma Melodiya presents a set of rare recordings by Emil Gilels.The world knows many talented pianists and a few great masters who tower above them all. Emil Gilels is one of them. The titans of piano like Gilels are borne once in a century. Those were the kind of reviews that accompanied Gilels throughout his pianistic career beginning with his victory at the all-union competition in 1933 in Moscow. However, this set will open new sides to Gilelss repertoire even to those who is well acquainted with his recordings. We will hear Emil Gilels as an ensemble musician.The titan of piano, who roused the audiences and orchestras, was able to turn into a fine chamber musician, a wonderful ensemble partner as though he dissolved his brightest individuality in a piece he performed. The more so because Gilelss partners were truly brilliant soloists such as Yakov Flier and Yakov Zak (piano), Elizaveta Gilels (violin), musicians from the Beethoven Quartet Dmitri Tsyganov (violin), Vadim Borisovsky (viola) and Sergei Shirinsky (cello). The set features compositions from various periods.

Leopold Stokowski - Decca Recordings 1965-1972: Original Masters (2003) 5CD Box Set

Posted By: Designol
Leopold Stokowski - Decca Recordings 1965-1972: Original Masters (2003) 5CD Box Set

Leopold Stokowski - Decca Recordings 1965-1972: Original Masters (2003) 5CD Box Set
with Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
New Philharmonia Orchestra; Hilversum Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
J.S. Bach, William Byrd, Jeremiah Clarke, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Henri Duparc
P.I. Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Edward Elgar
Cezar Franck, Hector Berlioz, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 1.85 Gb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 879 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Decca | # 475 145-2 | Time: 06:14:01

This fabulous five disc set is replete with some of those old Stokowski warhorses all recorded in absolutely mind boggling Phase 4 sound, overblown perhaps but astounding for its time. Decca's remastering is absolutely magnificent and the discs are jam packed with almost six hours of music. This is another fine memorial to a great conductor who remained astonishingly vital until the very end of his life.

Emil Gilels - The Seattle Recital (2016)

Posted By: Designol
Emil Gilels - The Seattle Recital (2016)

Emil Gilels - The Seattle Recital (2016)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 247 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 200 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 479 6288 GH | Time: 01:14:45

This release features a previously-unreleased recording of pianist Emil Gilels, captured live in an acclaimed 1964 Seattle recital. With the exception of a single work, this recital has never before been made available to the general public and is now being released for the first time. Released in time to celebrate the pianist’s 100th anniversary, the recital includes works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and more.

Maria Joao Pires - Verdes Anos 1976-1985: J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Mozart (2005) 5CD Box Set

Posted By: Designol
Maria Joao Pires - Verdes Anos 1976-1985: J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Mozart (2005) 5CD Box Set

Maria João Pires - Verdes Anos 1976-1985 (2005) 5CD Box Set
J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Mozart

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 1.21 Gb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 777 Mb | Scans ~ 22 Mb
Genre: Classical | Label: Erato/Warner Classics | # 2564612482 | Time: 05:30:10

Maria João Pires “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin,” wrote Gramophone in 1974. “She conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole … Best of all, she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.” This Portuguese pupil of Wilhelm Kempff, Pires was one of the artists who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s. This 5-CD box gathers together the recordings she made over the period from 1976 to 1985 and it reflects the consistent focus of her repertoire, with its special emphasis on Austro-German composers of the Classical and early-Romantic periods. Embracing solo works, piano duets and concertos, it contains works by Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, but also by Bach and Chopin.

Maria Joao Pires - Frederic Chopin: The Nocturnes, Complete Recording (1996) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
Maria Joao Pires - Frederic Chopin: The Nocturnes, Complete Recording (1996) 2CDs

Maria João Pires - Frédéric Chopin: The Nocturnes, Complete Recording (1996) 2CDs
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 344 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 271 Mb | Scans included
Genre: Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 477 096-2 | Time: 01:49:11

Passion rather than insouciance is Pires’s keynote. Here is no soft, moonlit option but an intensity and drama that scorn all complacent salon or drawing-room expectations. How she relishes Chopin’s central storms, creating a vivid and spectacular yet unhistrionic contrast with all surrounding serenity or ‘embalmed darkness’. The con fuoco of Op. 15 No. 1 erupts in a fine fury and in the first Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 1, Pires’s sharp observance of Chopin’s appassionato marking comes like a prophecy of the coda’s sudden blaze. Such resolution and psychological awareness make you realize that Chopin, like D. H. Lawrence, may well have thought that “there must be a bit of fear, and a bit of horror in your life”. Chopin, Pires informs us in no uncertain terms, was no sentimentalist.