In celebration of their twentieth anniversary, this essential release from Praga focuses on the artistry of the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter. In an all-Rachmaninov program, Richter is heard in the first two Piano Concertos accompanied by the great conductor Kurt Sanderling in live performances recorded in the 50s - well before he began touring internationally. Praga's hybrid SACD pairs remastered monophonic recordings of the concertos with four of Richter's favorite Preludes recorded in stereo during his first tour of North America in 1960. Praga has employed the best of today's cutting-edge restoration techniques to present these important historical recordings in all their original glory.

With this recording Argentine-Swiss cellist Sol Gabetta completes her pair of Shostakovich's cello concertos, recorded in reverse order. Perhaps she has simply been aware of Shostakovich's still growing popularity, or perhaps she felt it was a unique challenge to apply her somewhat impetuous style to Shostakovich, who could certainly be called sober and perhaps even dour.

[These recordings, dating from 1959 and 1960, have been staple entries in the classical catalogues since they were first issued. This is despite well chronicled unusual tempi in the Rachmaninov and distinctly wiry string tome especially in the Prokofiev. This latter partly to do with age but more to do with the players pushed to their technical limits.[/quote]

Lovers of Rachmaninov's Second and Third Piano Concertos should rush to buy, while it's still available, this magnificent CD by Noriko Ogawa, Owain Arwel Hughes, and the Malmo [Sweden] Symphony Orchestra. The Ogawa-Hughes-Malmo recording belongs alongside legendary performances by Argerich, Ashkenazy, Horowitz, Janis, Kapell, and the composer himself, and it is second to none in overall excellence.

With over 35 million views, Anna Fedorova's live performance of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto is the most viewed classical concerto video on YouTube. We are proud to release the long-awaited studio recording of this beloved concerto, together with Rachmaninoff's 4th Piano Concerto.

The seventh album by Lucas and Arthur Jussen at Deutsche Grammophon presents music for two pianos by Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Arensky. 'It's like driving a few BMWs', remarked conductor Michael Schønwandt after conducting Dutch brothers Lucas (26) and Arthur Jussen (22). Despite their young age, they have been part of the international concert world for years and are praised by both the press and the public. Not only did their albums have received platinum and gold status, they won several Edison Klassiesek Audience Awards, among others. With the album, the long-planned project to record an album with a beautiful, powerful and technically demanding Russian repertoire is now coming true.

Eugene Istomin (1925–2003), one of America’s most respected pianists, was highly esteemed by audiences and colleagues alike for his mindful virtuosity and unusually wide-ranging repertoire. 2015 marks Istomin’s 90th birthday year, a milestone that Sony Classical celebrates with the first-ever release of his complete Columbia Masterworks concerto and solo recordings in a limited original-jacket collection including 10 previously unreleased studio recordings. Many of these performances appear in their first authorized CD editions, including the 19-year-old pianist’s recorded debut in Bach’s D minor Concerto led by Adolf Busch; his youthful concerto collaborations with Pablo Casals; Chopin’s complete Nocturnes; Brahms’s Handel Variations; Schubert’s D major D 850 Sonata, plus the long-out-of-print Rachmaninoff 2nd, Tchaikovsky 1st, Brahms 2nd, and Beethoven 4th and 5th (“Emperor”) Concertos with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Newly remastered from the original analogue tapes, the discs are presented in facsimile sleeves and labels corresponding to the original LP releases. An enclosed booklet offers full discographical information, an essay by Jed Distler, and a photographic retrospective.

This CD is absolutely beautiful. Rachmaninoff has always been a master at harmony. His orchestral pieces are brilliant and this choral work is even richer in its harmonies, and faithfully follows the Russian Orthodox tradition. The tenor James Gilchrist is superb. If you are a lover of choral music, and if you want to experience music with a deep spiritual significance, then please purchase this CD. It will make your spirit soar.

While there are plenty of contestants these days for the top spot in the "who's got the best recording of Rachmaninov?"" competition, one could persuasively argue that this 1993 recording with Nikolai Korniev directing the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir is the best. First, of course, the choir is Russian, which means that they've got the right tone, the right technique, the right intonation, and, best of all, the right basses for the job because no choir anywhere can hit low B flats like Russian basses. Second, the director is a dedicated choral conductor, which means that he's not using this disc as an audition for recording operas, oratorios, or symphonies, but rather doing it for the sake of the music.

Vladimir Horowitz possessed freakishly superb technical equipment, plus inspiration and a mercurial imagination that caused him to never play the same work twice in the same way. There has been no greater writer of pianistic works in the history of the instrument. There was never a better ear for piano color, and his performances usually succeeded in giving a work "the stamp of approval" causing his contemporaries to begin programming works he chose to champion. The was, and is, nobody who can imitate Horowitz, for his genius was truly a never ending source of inspiration.

Russo-British pianist Yevgeny Sudbin has traversed the Rachmaninov concertos at a deliberate pace, issuing a recording of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 in 2007 and rounding out the set with this reading of the Second and Third in 2018. His Rachmaninov is carefully wrought, subtly intertwined with the orchestral part rather than trafficking in high contrasts, and here the effect is heightened by Sudbin's unusual interpretation of the opening Moderato of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18.

‘Rachmaninov fans won’t want to miss this’ was Gramophone’s verdict on Steven Osborne’s recording of the Études-tableaux, and this thrilling new release is an equally essential acquisition. Osborne proves a predictably fine exponent of the Faustian Piano Sonata No 1 and is no less compelling in the selection of shorter works which completes the album.

Pianist Yuja Wang, clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer and cellist Gautier Capu‡on have earned a reputation as a "super-trio", having given performances worldwide that reveal the instinctive, almost telepathic bond of musical communication that exists between the three players. Works by Sergei Rachmaninoff & Johannes Brahms includes visionary interpretations of Rachmaninoff's Cello Sonata Op. 19, Brahms's Cello Sonata No.1 Op. 38 and the same composer's Trio for piano, clarinet and cello Op. 14.

Pianomusiikista tunnetun säveltäjän kappaleiden urkusovitukset tuovat selkeästi esille Kiviniemen vertaansa vailla olevan virtuositeetin [ja] urkujen soittimelliset mahdollisuudet… Helminä nousevat tunnetun cis-molli-preludin ohella sarja oopperasta Aleko sekä lyhennetty versio Rapsodiasta Paganinin teemaan. Kiviniemen taito näkyy (…) siinä, miten selkeästi solistisen pianomateriaalin artikulaatio säilyy läpi haastavimpien kohtien.

The month of March will be marked by the 150th birthday of the great Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov. Though mostly remembered for his piano compositions, he excelled in every genre, and his symphonies and tone poems are no exception. We release here the highly praised complete recordings made by Andrew Litton and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, including the famous Vocalise in its instrumental version, and the Symphonic Dances, both making their digital debut.