Grigory Lipmanovich Sokolov born April 18, 1950, is a Russian concert pianist. He is among the most esteemed of living pianists, his repertoire spanning composers from the Baroque period such as Bach, Couperin or Rameau up to Schoenberg and Arapov. He regularly tours Europe, and resides in Italy.

This is the eagerly awaited final instalment of András Schiff's acclaimed complete Beethoven cycle. Collectors can now finally explore the extraordinary interpretative and editorial qualities of this cycle in full.Schiff's much-admired art of musical characterisation is particularly evident in these last six sonatas that combine dramatic and symphonic grandeur with intimate beauty. As Schiff completed his Beethoven performances at the Tonhalle in Zurich where all 8 volumes have been recorded live, a journalist wrote "This was a Beethoven which transfixed the audience with its Apollonian balance, its subtly hued sonic and dynamic differentiation, depth of thought and technical command...The three sonatas sounded like a quintessence of pure late style, otherworldly as if made from precious marble" Schiff's reading of the musical texts is personal and charismatic, yet extremely thorough, offering many revealing new insights.

This album from pianist Rafal Luszczewski contains both live and studio recordings by this versatile artist. This time the pianist, somewhat analogously to his previous album, decided to bring you closer his public performance of the complete set of Fryderyk Chopin’s Ballades, supplementing the album with other selected works by the Polish Romantic. ”I appreciate the concert performances as the more lively, genuine and authentic than the recordings made in studio. This is due to the fact that the artist’s
performance of music with the participation of audience, on a concert stage, is accompanied by genuine emotions. Each concert is a rush of adrenaline, which translates into a spontaneous performance, fresh interpretation ideas, liveliness and at the same time authenticity of the artistic message. Nowadays, only a few living artists decide to record such a demanding repertoire in the concert version.” Rafal Luszczewski

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ravishing and rare solo piano suite ‘BTTB’ is finally issued on vinyl - expanded, reshuffled, and newly replete with liner notes by none other than Haruki Murakami. Trust it’s swoon-worthy stuff.
Originally released in 1998 and hard to get hold of outside of Japan, ‘BTTB’, or ‘Back To The Basics’ is now reissued on 2LP to mark its 20th anniversary. It’s effectively a definitive edition of ‘BTTB’, reshuffled from the original 2LP pressing to also include ‘Energy Flow’ from the BTTB’ maxi-single, (which peaked at No.4 in the Japanese singles charts), as well as the slippery elegance of ‘Reversing’, both on the vinyl album for the first time.
Tech specs aside, this new edition is a sumptuous testament to Sakamoto’s effortlessly natural, poetic evocations of emotion, by then channelling some 30 years work as an arranger of classic synthpop (YMO, collabs with David Sylvian), and seminal soundtracks (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; The Last Emperor) into some of his most stripped down yet affective music, hovering on the line between precise, mindful composition and intuitively fluid improvisation.
While the majority of the material here features Sakamoto playing conventionally beautiful solo piano with magnificent highlights on the likes of ‘Opus’, he also extends into experimental, prepared piano on a handful of pieces, both serene and frantic, such as ‘Prelude’, ‘Sonata’ and ‘Uetax’, cannily resonating with Aphex Twin’s prepared piano pieces on ‘Drukqs’, which were released just two years later.

在音乐史上，是作曲家同时也是演奏家的大师不在少数，但能够自己演奏自己的作品并留下录音的，却仅有几个。而拉赫玛尼诺夫对自己作品的演奏更是珍品中的珍品。拉赫玛尼诺夫的创作以抒情、旋律性和戏剧性见长，演奏上注重用激烈的诠释来处理技巧难度较大而不乏委婉华彩的乐章。本唱片收录了他从1919至1929年期间对自己作品的精彩演绎，是收藏架上不可或缺的天碟。

Many concepts have been applied to the playing of Bach's "Goldberg Variations, BWV 988," on the piano rather than the harpsichord for which it was originally composed. There are readings that attempt to restrict the piano's dynamic ambit to keep it close to that of a harpsichord, those that go full-on Romantic, and monumental takes that recognize the sheer unprecedented scope of the work. Fewer, though, are those that recognize the original story of the work's origin, recounted by Bach's early biographer Forkel: a Russian ambassador in Saxony, named Kaiserling, had trouble sleeping and prevailed upon a young pianist named Goldberg to serenade him to the land of dreams with a harpsichord, asking Bach to compose something for these sessions. The tale has been widely disbelieved, but there is no reason to suppose that quiet, intimate "Goldberg Variations" are any less valid than an epic one. That's what's here from German pianist Lars Vogt, who manages the neat trick of delivering a truly pianistic interpretation without turning it into a Romantic one. He does so by keeping the volume low throughout and by reining in the temptation to make the big minor-key variations at the middle and end into anguished dissonant cries. Instead they are moderate in tempo and quietly dreamy, to delightful effect, and one might indeed imagine the insomniac Russian count drifting off to them. In general Vogt's treatment is straightforward, with nothing brought so far to the fore that it would interfere with the considerable contrapuntal detail that emerges naturally from the individual variations. With excellent engineering from Ondine, working in the Deutschlandfunk Chamber Music Studio in Cologne, this is a highly recommended tonic to grandiose "Goldberg Variations" played on whatever instruments.

介质为1CD！

钢琴家霍洛维茨是本世纪最伟大的钢琴家之一，被誉为“最后的浪漫”，这张唱片收录这是霍洛维茨生前最后一次协奏曲录音，由朱里尼指挥斯卡拉剧院管弦乐团协奏。曾荣获1988年 法国唱片大奖（Grand Prix du Disque）和1989年 格莱美奖。

晚年的霍洛维茨醉心于莫扎特，他非常喜欢阅读莫扎特的书信，因为莫扎特丰富的想法与感情都在信件中表露无遗，且常在写给父亲的信件中谈论他的作品该如何地演奏，因此霍洛维兹认为只有从莫扎特的书信中才能真正地了解如何弹他的作品。霍洛维茨的音乐世界里有着自己情感中的莫扎特，他的莫扎特是极端效果化的莫扎特，他认为他对作品效果的追求,是他的音乐创造，应该说他对所有作曲家有一种深具说服力的独特认知。

01 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 23 in A major, K. 488: 1. Allegro
02 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 23 in A major, K. 488: 2. Adagio
03 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra no. 23 in A major, K. 488: 3. Allegro assai
04 Piano Sonata In B Flat Major, K. 333: 1. Allegro
05 Piano Sonata In B Flat Major, K. 333: 2. Andante cantabile
06 Piano Sonata In B Flat Major, K. 333: 3. Allegretto grazioso

Keyboardist Kenny Kirkland's long-overdue debut as a leader really stretches his talents and is occasionally unpredictable. Virtually each of the performances has its own personality and the personnel and instrumentation differ throughout the release. Among the highlights is "Mr. J.C." (which features some stormy Branford Marsalis tenor), an electric Latin but still boppish update of Bud Powell's "Celia" (taken as a duet with percussionist Don Alias), the struttin' "Steepian Faith," a driving rendition of Ornette Coleman's "When Will the Blues Leave" that has some free bop alto from Roderick Ward, and Latin versions (with percussionist Jerry Gonzalez) of two standards not normally thought of as belonging to that idiom: Wayne Shorter's "Ana Maria" and Thelonious Monk's "Criss Cross." This highly recommended CD has more than its share of brilliant moments.

A collection of eleven solo recordings, originally released by Atlantic in the mid-1970s. Recorded on a standard studio piano rather than a concert grand, "Solo Piano" is an unbelievably intimate experience with this wonderfully talented pianist.