 | Bach: The Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $4.95 The Belgian pianist Robert Groslot once remarked that the three elemental parts of the pianist "head, heart, hands" never found a better synthesis than in Glenn Gould. Was he right!!
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 | The Celebrated Scarlatti Recordings
Buy used from: $3.37 Behind all the glitter and gold, surrounded by omnipresent hysteria, he was one of the greatest musicians of all times. Often one of his notes communicated more than other pianists' complete oeuvres.
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 | Hommage à Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (Box Set)
Buy used from: $119.22 Even after listening to some of his performances for over thirty years, he astonishes me time and again. Important teacher too.
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 | Sviatoslav Richter: In Memoriam
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $4.99 Extremely versatile musician, from Bach to Mozart, from Beethoven to Schubert, from Schumann to Brahms, from Berg to Hindemith, from Rachmaninov to Prokoviev,everything received Richter's Midas touch.
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 | Schubert: The Piano Sonatas
Buy new: $50.49 / Used from: $31.97 Ultimate specialist of the germanic repertoire. Could reduce an interpretation to its bare critical essence. Great teacher.
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 | Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Complete Recordings
Buy used from: $150.40 Great technique, equally impressive personality. Even the lousy sonics can not mask the presence of one of the greatest pianists ever.
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 | Dinu Lipatti
Buy used from: $59.85 Did not leave a large oeuvre. What remains is all one of a kind. Bach transcriptions, Liszt Petrarca, Mozart Kv 310, Chopin waltzes, Ravel's Alborada: none of them needs to be recorded ever again.
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 | Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Webern, etc / Maurizio Pollini by Stravinsky
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $6.90 People suffering from ubiquitous tone deafness call him cold. Bahh, humbug. Restrained, analytical, yet overwhelming. Spend your last penny to watch him play Beethoven's Hammerklavier in concert!
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 | Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos
Buy new: $32.98 / Used from: $16.89 No friend of piano technicians.Much broader in repertoire than generally recognized.During a couple of his concerts, his Beethoven gave me the eery feeling that Ludwig himself was present in the hall.
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 | Bach: Goldberg Variations; Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue; Italian Concerto
Buy new: $10.98 / Used from: $7.26 Monumental musician. Devoted to her art. She played right through a German V2 assault on London, rather than stopping in the middle of a Scarlatti sonata.
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 | Alkan: Les quatre ages; Sonatine; Le festin d'Esope
Buy used from: $24.48 Still developing, and likely to climb on the list. Unrivaled pianism, coupled with great intellectual insight, and sensitive, restrained musicianship.
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 | Bach: Great Organ Works
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $8.49 Emperor of the King of all instruments, great on harpsichord too. I have never met Bach himself, but I have reason to believe that nobody brings us closer to him than Helmut Walcha.
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 | Alexis Weissenberg
Buy used from: $52.40 Greatly underrepresented in the catalogue. Did phantastic Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Ravel, Debussy, Rachmaninov, etc. Appears occasionaly on European tv. Deserves much wider attention.
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 | Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
Buy new: $49.97 / Used from: $25.70 Schnabel was pivotal in restoring the classics of the repertoire to their current prominence. His work illustrates how the current tendency towards perfection, often results in impersonal "fast music"
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 | Bolet Rediscovered: Liszt Recital
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $11.11 Liszt's greatest interpreter, but equally versed in Chopin and Brahms. Thanks to the Indian summer at the end of his career I was fortunate enough to attend several of his concerts.
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 | Scarlatti: Sonaten
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $10.75 Unpredictable. But when he's hot in concert he enters the realm of the supernatural. When you catch him at a good moment, he can be a really nice guy too.
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 | Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier 48 Preludes and Fugues / Hewitt, MacGregor, Demidenko, Gavrilow
Buy used from: $89.95 Joanna MacGregor. With the demise of Collins her whole stellar discography has become unavailable. What a shame. Great advocate for contemporary music. Great in Bach,Scarlatti,Ravel,Debussy, Messiaen.
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 | Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Buy new: $17.98 / Used from: $11.21 Precise, passionate and pianistic. Much broader in repertoire than just Chopin. Very tough. I saw him in an awesome Chopin 2nd Sonata, while he was suffering from pneumonia. Try that Maurizio!
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| Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1
Superb virtuoso in despite of severe physical handicap. Specialist in the romantic repertoire. Very personal "grungy" Beethoven.
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 | Robert Casadesus - Great Pianists of the 20th Century
Buy used from: $34.99 From my early childhood on I was so bombarded with his Ravel, that it took me decades to rediscover him. Coupling of French sensibility with teutonic discipline. More of his discs should be reissued!
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 | André Watts
Buy used from: $59.89 I still vividly remember a fantastic Haydn/Ravel concert of his from the late '70s. Fortunately prominently featured in PBS' Lincoln Center chamber music series.
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| Bach: 6 Partitas, BWV825-830
Buy new: $38.98 / Used from: $28.45 His Bach was my revelation of 2001. Another Bach cd and the 4 cd legacy box that I found at Amazon Germany extend this conclusion. Superb Mozart, himaleic Brahms, great Beethoven,Debussy,Schumann,etc.
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 | Live From South Africa
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $1.70 Great in his so far limited discography. Even better in concert. Has a sixth sense for infusing musical architecture with drama. Waiting for his interpretation of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata.
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 | Malcolm Frager Plays Chopin
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $3.40 Many things in common with #1 on this list, including an untimely death. Top notch in CPE Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Reissues Please!
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