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Chopin: Complete Piano Music
: :This 15-disc set, recorded from 1990 to 1992, is a truly complete survey of Chopin's piano music, including juvenilia and the works for piano and orchestra. It may not be quite the triumph of Biret's Brahms set, in which the performances are competitive with the best to be heard anywhere. But all of this playing is thoroughly worthy of the music, and Biret's technique is strong enough to deal with such hurdles as the Études and Scherzi without flinching. Her style is a bit more straightforward than that of the most famous Chopin ...
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Beethoven: Complete String Quartets + Grosse Fuge (Hungarian Quartet)
: :This 15-disc set, recorded from 1990 to 1992, is a truly complete survey of Chopin's piano music, including juvenilia and the works for piano and orchestra. It may not be quite the triumph of Biret's Brahms set, in which the performances are competitive with the best to be heard anywhere. But all of this playing is thoroughly worthy of the music, and Biret's technique is strong enough to deal with such hurdles as the Études and Scherzi without flinching. Her style is a bit more straightforward than that of the most famous Chopin ...
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Lenny: The Legend Lives On
from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :There are so many ways to discover the genius of Leonard Bernstein, it's really a question of where to begin. Give a listen to his monumental Mahler cycle, or start with something easier to grasp, his definitive recordings of Copland? On the six-CD Lenny: The Legend Lives On, Deutsche Grammophon does its best to capture the conductor's finest from his last decade (1981-1990), giving us the added bonus of a previously unreleased recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, with Lenny at the piano. Not surprisingly, the set focuses on live material, but ...
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The Best Of Beethoven
from: Madacy Records
: :There are so many ways to discover the genius of Leonard Bernstein, it's really a question of where to begin. Give a listen to his monumental Mahler cycle, or start with something easier to grasp, his definitive recordings of Copland? On the six-CD Lenny: The Legend Lives On, Deutsche Grammophon does its best to capture the conductor's finest from his last decade (1981-1990), giving us the added bonus of a previously unreleased recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, with Lenny at the piano. Not surprisingly, the set focuses on live material, but ...
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Beethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas
from: Nimbus Records
: :There are so many ways to discover the genius of Leonard Bernstein, it's really a question of where to begin. Give a listen to his monumental Mahler cycle, or start with something easier to grasp, his definitive recordings of Copland? On the six-CD Lenny: The Legend Lives On, Deutsche Grammophon does its best to capture the conductor's finest from his last decade (1981-1990), giving us the added bonus of a previously unreleased recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, with Lenny at the piano. Not surprisingly, the set focuses on live material, but ...
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Chopin: Piano Works
from: Nimbus Records
: :There are so many ways to discover the genius of Leonard Bernstein, it's really a question of where to begin. Give a listen to his monumental Mahler cycle, or start with something easier to grasp, his definitive recordings of Copland? On the six-CD Lenny: The Legend Lives On, Deutsche Grammophon does its best to capture the conductor's finest from his last decade (1981-1990), giving us the added bonus of a previously unreleased recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17, with Lenny at the piano. Not surprisingly, the set focuses on live material, but ...
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Mahler: Symphony No.8
from: London
: :The dionysiac power and sonic splendor of this landmark 1971 recording continues to pack a wallop in the digital age. If Solti had recorded nothing else, this alone would have ensured the late conductor's formidable Mahler reputation. But why isn't London's single disc remastering available in the United States? --Jed Distler
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Plácido Domingo - Verdi ~ The Tenor Arias
: :There is only one word for this four-CD set: glorious. Released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death, it presents arias from every one of his 28 operas, a comprehensive overview of his work. It is also a tribute to Placido Domingo, one of his foremost present-day interpreters. An extraordinarily versatile artist, Domingo is heard in selections from his signature roles, like Otello, Radames, and Don Carlo, taken from recordings made between the 1960s and the '90s. He's also heard in new recordings of arias from the earliest, unfamiliar operas he has ...
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Schubert: The Symphonies; Chamber Music; Piano Works; Lieder
from: Nimbus Records
: :In addition to the 9 symphonies played by the period instrument Hanover Band with zing and authority, you'll find on these 12 CDs the Chilingirian String Quartet's stunning 'Death and the Maiden' Quartet (and more), 6 big piano sonatas, handsomely done by Marta Deyanova, and a stunning performance of the C-Major Quintet with the Brandis Quartett and cellist Wen-Sinn Yang. In addition, Shura Gehrman (who owned Nimbus) sings both Die Schoene Mullerin and Die Winterreise--two of the more bizarre musical events of the last quarter century--both worth it, if nothing else, as party ...
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St Matthew Passion (Complete) (live performance in Symphony Hall, Boston on Good Friday March 26, 1937) - Koussevitzky
from: Rockport
: :A fascinating step back in time, this--a live performance in Symphony Hall, Boston, on Good Friday 1937, with several refugees from Nazi Germany among the performers. Never mind the variable sound (generally, it's more than acceptable), the RCA engineers performed miracles during a nerve-jangling, one-chance-only exercise. You would expect a more obviously reverential performance than today's practice, but while speeds are indeed achingly slow at times, and what we would hear as sentimentality does show through (how Jeanette Vreeland scoops and swoops), there are fascinating glimpses of 'modern' Bach style. For example, the ...
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