This two-CD set is volume 3 in the Landmarks of Recorded Pianism series, and comprises piano solos, concerti, and two spoken reminiscences. Producers Gregor Benko and Ward Marston have selected these recordings because of their intrinsic musical and historic importance, hoping that they will merit the attention of music lovers, scholars, and collectors. Most of the offerings in this set will be completely new to collectors and enthusiasts since they are available here for the first time.

The center pieces of the set are two concerto performances taken from broadcasts, both marvelous in different ways: first we present Chopin’s F-minor concerto from a 1936 broadcast with Polish pianist, Jan Smeterlin, ably supported by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. A performance of both tumult and tenderness, it is the earliest known live performance of this work.

Then we offer a 1950 BBC broadcast of the Schumann concerto with 79-year-old Adelina de Lara, who had studied the work with Clara Schumann nearly sixty years earlier. De Lara gives an almost “chamber music” reading of the concerto, with subtle gradations of color and phrasing. We are also offering a third performance with piano and orchestra, but not an actual concerto. It is a seven-minute concoction of themes from the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s first concerto, made for a Coca-Cola sponsored radio program, played by the great Russian pianist, Simon Barere, with André Kostelanitz conducting the orchestra. This strange little pastiche is a new addition to the Barere discography.

For piano solo recordings, we first feature two recently discovered acoustic sides made in 1919 by African-American composer and pianist, Nathaniel Dett. These are lovely, serene readings of two short pieces from two suites, and we can only wish that we could hear more, but we have been assured that these are the only recordings of his artistry. The set also includes recordings by Australian-born pianist Elsie Hall whose only records are twelve sides made for HMV in 1930. These can be heard here for the first time in reissue, as well as a splendid performance of Bach’s C-minor Partita recorded privately when Hall was 86 years old. Our Landmarks third volume concludes by paying tribute to the English pianist, Katherine Goodson, 1872–1958. Goodson, a star pupil of Leschetizky, enjoyed a great career spanning a half-century yet sadly left us no recordings of her extraordinary artistry. Here, however, we can hear her speaking on two BBC broadcasts. First, a detailed reminiscence about her studies with Leschetizky, where she plays eight brief musical extracts. Our set concludes with Goodson giving a touching account of her week’s stay with soprano, Nellie Melba, at her Australian home.

In this second volume of the series Landmarks of Recorded Pianism, producers Ward Marston and Gregor Benko once again select piano recordings of great historical significance. There are several broadcast items presented: “live” performances by Rosenthal of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as well as Mark Hambourg playing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 and short selections from a Japanese broadcast by Ignaz Friedman, all of which expand our understanding of these pianists’ artistic contributions. Additional broadcast performances by Etelka Freund, Percy Grainger, and Reah Sadowsky, plus a unique broadcast of Grace Castagnetta improvising, are joined by commercial recordings of composer Federico Mompou and pianists Rosita Renard and Frank La Forge that have never been reissued before, as well as what is probably the earliest fortepiano recording, Arnold Dolmetsch playing the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. The volumes of this ongoing series will likely prove to be cornerstones of any library of historical piano recordings.

This release features a collection of what might be called piano orphans: commercial and non-commercial recordings of great pianists that simply have never found their way onto compact disc. Among these treasures are fifteen minutes of Dinu Lipatti playing Scarlatti and Brahms that have only recently surfaced; an unpublished disc of Alfred Cortot playing the “Russian Dance” from Petroushka; and previously unpublished excerpts of the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto played by Vladimir Horowitz with the Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded during a 1932 concert conducted by Fritz Reiner and recorded as an experiment by the Bell Telephone Laboratory. This is Horowitz's earliest known concert performance and is in amazing sound for that time. It is unfortunate that the entire concerto was not recorded, but hearing these excerpts will be a revelation for Horowitz fans. Also included are live concerto performances by Lev Puishnov and Guiomar Novaes. We feel certain that piano enthusiasts worldwide will treasure this 2-CD set as nothing like it has been heard since Gregor Benko produced his acclaimed Landmarks of Recorded Pianism LP forty years ago.

In 1903, the Paris branch of the Gramophone and Typewriter Company made 27 incredibly important piano records. These documented the pianism of Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) and Raoul Pugno (1852–1914). The Grieg and Pugno recordings are some of the most rare and sought after discs and are unfortunately some of the most primitive and problematic. We are pleased to say that very recent technology has allowed us to greatly reduce these problems to produce these recordings in startlingly improved versions. This set also includes the equally rare 1904 G&T sides (five in total) of Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) playing various selections from his own works, the eight sides Saint-Saëns recorded for the Gramophone Company in 1919, and other important piano recordings made by G&T.

Robert Goldsand (Vienna, 1911–Connecticut, 1991) entered the Vienna Academy of Music at around age six and made his recital debut four years later at ten. Later, Goldsand studied with Moriz Rosenthal and Emil Sauer. He launched his US career in 1927 and played regularly in New York from the 1940s onward. Among pianists active in the twentieth century, few could boast of a repertoire as varied and extensive as Goldsand’s. He died at age eighty in 1991.

Goldsand’s pianism was characterized by a remarkable range in tone color, an unusual degree of interpretative freedom, and a complete command of the instrument. At times he would follow the letter of the text scrupulously, while at others he would adopt a seemingly willful disregard for the composer. In either case, Robert Goldsand’s recordings demand attention and are worthy additions to any piano-recording collection.

Goldsand made few commercial recordings, yet surreptitiously-recorded tapes of Goldsand recitals (mid 1960s) exist and have been circulated among collectors. Beginning earlier (the mid-1950s), Goldsand arranged for many of his New York recitals to be professionally taped for his own retention. These remained in his possession until his death in 1991 and nearly 100 open-reel tapes in deplorable condition were donated to the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland. A massive conservation project was expertly and painstakingly accomplished by Seth B. Winner Sound Studios, Inc. resulting in a new cache of recordings.

After auditioning more than two dozen Goldsand recitals from the preserved and digitized tapes, the performances presented here were chosen to represent him at the height of his powers. Notes are by IPAM Curator Donald Manildi. This three-CD Marston release marks the first–and long overdue–representation of Robert Goldsand's playing on compact disc. It offers performances from 1956 through 1977.

Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) (bass) was in the opinion of many the greatest singing actor of the 20th century. Like Enrico Caruso, the name Chaliapin continued to be a household word long after his death. A case in point is that the Sobranie tobacco company continued to market their “Chaliapin” cigarettes into the 1970s. Producing a Chaliapin set has long been a desire of Marston, yet due to the size of the compilation, the production costs, and the time involved, this project has been pushed to the back burner time and time again. With the financial assistance of some of our generous supporters, we have finally released a thirteen-CD set containing every known recording of Feodor Chaliapin numbering well into the two hundreds. This set contains a substantial number of previously unpublished alternative takes, as well as all extant sides from the live performances at Covent Garden and the Royal Albert Hall that were recorded by His Master's Voice in 1926 through 1928. The booklet accompanying the set includes essays on Chaliapin and his records by Michael Scott and Michael Aspinall, and a reprint of an essay by the great accompanist, Ivor Newton.

Note: Original CD set is Sold Out; you will receive a CDR Version

The name Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) is familiar to all piano devotees. His legendary career, marked by extraordinary performances, accolades and recordings, spanned eight decades. And yet, the pre-war recordings of Arrau exhibit a completely different artistry than those he later made. Arrau's later work, the stereo LP recordings, reveal the seasoned, polished and philosophical master. The early recordings, with much repertoire never played later in his career, demonstrate a young artist taking risks, being spontaneous and displaying great virtuosity. The result is pianism with fire, vitality and drama.