Piano Music - A 'Project Climax' Subcategory - 12 CDs

Chamber Music
The body of piano music that we know today reflects the development of keyboard instruments over the last four hundred years. In the Baroque era, the harpsichord was the principal keyboard instrument. The harpsichord works by plucking strings inside the instrument, which makes possible very fast runs. However, all notes on the harpsichord must always be played at the same volume, which limits the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Today much Baroque keyboard music is played on the piano, which, though not what the composer intended, can make for as sublime an experience as any.

In the mid-eighteenth century a new instrument came into style that played by striking wooden hammers against strings, rather than plucking them. It was called a fortepiano, since it could play both loud (forte) and soft (piano). At some point the name got switched around to pianoforte, or just piano for short. The late-eighteenth-century piano was light in tone and very responsive to the player; it was for this instrument that Beethoven wrote his 32 sonatas, which are now the cornerstone of the piano literature.

In the nineteenth century the piano acquired more keys and was strengthened by metal plates and braces, becoming shaped into the instrument we know today. The modern piano produces a full, firm tone at any dynamic level, and nineteenth-century composers took advantage of this new resource to write piano works that called for great virtuosity and expressiveness. Since 1800, all of the great composers have written for piano, and today there is piano music to suit anyone's mood or taste.




What to do next
Once you have browsed and read about the recommended albums of this section at Classicalcdguide.com, you can come back here and download the albums that has cought your interest. The albums marked by a red number are the ones I have yet been unable to find anywhere so any help on that matter would be very much appreciated.

If you want more
In case you feel inspired to get more you are welcome to visit the main page of project Climax from where you will have access to a virtual library of quality recordings of classical music. Everything indexed into a variety of categories that should suit everyones taste.

01 - Beethoven; Favourite Piano Sonatas - Alfred Brendel (Philips 1994) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/30702746/Climax014b.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30698540/Climax014b.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30694540/Climax014b.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30690504/Climax014a.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30685201/Climax014a.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30685200/Climax014a.part2.rar

02 - Frederic Chopin; Favourite Piano Works - Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca 1996) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/34489583/111BPOKGJEHF.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34487177/111BPOKGJEHF.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34484600/111BPOKGJEHF.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34481544/111APOKGJEHF.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34410334/111APOKGJEHF.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/34407218/111APOKGJEHF.part1.rar

03 - Schubert; Impromptus D899 (Op.90) & D935 (Op.142) - Murray Perahia (Sony 1990)
http://rapidshare.de/files/32641911/067ATREBVCJL.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/32636523/067ATREBVCJL.part1.rar

04 - Bach; http://rapidshare.de/files/33621029/B.BC.OotAoE.1.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33632074/B.BC.OotAoE.1.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33632339/B.BC.OotAoE.1.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33633413/B.BC.OotAoE.2.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33680636/B.BC.OotAoE.2.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33683807/B.BC.OotAoE.2.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33612275/Cvrs.rar

05 - Claude Debussy; Complete Piano Works Vol. 1 - Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Decca 1996) 3 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/35440487/D.Pb1-2.JYT.1.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35440534/D.Pb1-2.JYT.1.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35440914/D.Pb1-2.JYT.1.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35461777/D.Pb1-2.JYT.2.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35473594/D.Pb1-2.JYT.2.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35472039/D.Pb1-2.JYT.2.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35472537/D.Pb1-2.JYT.Cvrs.rar

06 - Brahms; Rhapsodies Op. 79, Piano Pieces Opp. 117-119 - Radu Lupu (Decca 1990)
http://rapidshare.de/files/31650448/036AGJRIMCVB.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31631500/036AGJRIMCVB.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31629031/036AGJRIMCVB.part1.rar

07 - Beethoven; Die Späten Klaviersonaten - Maurizio Pollini (DG 1997) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/31027888/Climax022b.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31022227/Climax022b.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30995557/Climax022a.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30990166/Climax022a.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30971599/Climax022a.part1.rar

08 - Liszt; Favourite Piano Works - Jorge Bolet (Decca 1995) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/35899682/L.FPW.JB.1.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35899910/L.FPW.JB.1.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35902547/L.FPW.JB.1.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35911906/L.FPW.JB.2.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35953536/L.FPW.JB.2.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35960766/L.FPW.JB.2.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35925361/L.FPW.JB.Cvrs.rar

09 - Mozart; Piano Sonatas - Mitsuko Uchida (Philips 2003) 5 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/33982361/061EWAMPSReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33980594/061EWAMPSReUp.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33977603/061DWAMPSReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33974892/061DWAMPSReUp.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33971018/061CWAMPSReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33957457/061CWAMPSReUp.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33947501/061BWAMPSReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33926919/061BWAMPSReUp.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33915384/061AWAMPSReUp.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/33908858/061AWAMPSReUp.part1.rar

10 - Aleksandr Scriabin; Horowitz Plays Scriabin - Vladimir Horowitz (RCA 1989)
http://rapidshare.de/files/35310953/129ATYSKGJGH.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35294542/129ATYSKGJGH.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/35289775/129ATYSKGJGH.part1.rar

11 - Bach; The Well-Tempered Clavier 1 & 2 - Rosalyn Tureck (DG 1999) 4 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/30431028/Climax004d.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30415545/Climax004d.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30411082/Climax004d.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30405998/Climax004c.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30400545/Climax004c.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30389426/Climax004c.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30382704/Climax004b.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30363821/Climax004b.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30351125/Climax004b.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30343849/Climax004a.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30311768/Climax004a.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/30287285/Climax004a.part1.rar

12 - Haydn; Piano Sonatas Nos. 32, 33, 53, 54 & 58- András Schiff (Teldec 1999) 2 CDs
http://rapidshare.de/files/31897576/047BBFRTTOJG.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31895062/047BBFRTTOJG.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31892494/047BBFRTTOJG.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31889727/047ABFRTTOJG.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31871039/047ABFRTTOJG.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/31866891/047ABFRTTOJG.part1.rar