Dino Ciani [1941-1974] was one of the most promising pianists of his generation, sadly cut down at the age of 32 in a car accident in Rome. Cortot thought the world of him. What he might have achieved had he been around longer! Surely his fame would have equalled that of fellow-Italian and near contemporary, Maurizio Pollini.
His excellent DGG Debut LP of the Schumann Novelettes [now very rare] was an early purchase of mine, and I bought this set mainly because it includes those performances. But it is the Debussy Preludes [both books] which really took my breath away, and I have played them several times with increasing wonder and admiration. Ciani has a full command of… Read more
The partnership between pianist Leon Fleisher and George Szell's Cleveland orchestra produced some of the most electrifying and thoroughly satisfying versions of the Beethoven and Brahms concertos from the early years of stereo. Sadly, Fleisher's career was later curtailed by a neurological condition, which for several decades left him with the use of only one hand. Thankfully, he has recovered the use of both hands in recent years through botox injections, and is still playing in his early 80s.
These late 1950s - early 1960s recordings are among his greatest achievements, and have held their own against stiff competition since they were first issued, though they have… Read more
I bought this set for Starker's survey of the Bach solo cello suites: but I found them far less enjoyable than his later sets for Mercury and RCA/Sony. The Martzy set of the solo violin sonatas and partitas is another story altogether. These are simply ravishing, and must count as one of the finest ever. The original LPs were only briefly available, and the artist refused to allow them to be re-issued. Thus the LPs acquired cult status, and used copies changed hands for hundreds of pounds. Now we can hear them in excellent remastered sound, and it is obvious what all the fuss was about.
A fifth CD contains mainly well-known excerpts from the Anna Magdelena Bach notebook: it too… Read more
