[ Warner Classics Icon / 8 CD Box Set ]
Release Date: Saturday 23 August 2014
This item is only available to us via Special Order. We should be able to get it to you in 3 - 6 weeks from when you order it.
This set of Annie Fischer's complete EMI recordings represent her during a particular decade, when she had made her European reputation. These recordings helped spread that reputation and increased her prominence among pianists.
As studio recordings, they form an unusual part of Fischer's legacy - during most of her time as a performer, she avoided recording studios as she did not believe in playing in a studio without the presence of an audience. She shared this view with her eminent colleague Sviatoslav Richter, who said of her, 'Annie Fischer is a great artist, imbued with a spirit of greatness and genuine profundity.' However, from 1955 to 1966, she made a series of recordings for EMI. It began with Bartók's Third Piano Concerto, the only work she recorded in 1955, and concluded with two of the six Mozart Piano Concertos. They were all made at Abbey Road Studios in London, with the exception of Schumann's Kinderszenen and Kreisleriana, recorded in Vienna.
'I can find no praise too high for Annie Fischer's playing, for she makes every phrase a delight. Sawallisch partners his soloist to perfection. Everybody has here combined to produce something really outstanding among recordings of Mozart concertos.' (Gramophone)
Bartók:
Piano Concerto No. 3, BB 127, Sz. 119
Beethoven:
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique'
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 'Moonlight'
Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, Op. 31 No. 3 'The Hunt'
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major, Op. 78
Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 'Waldstein'
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Liszt:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124
Mozart:
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467 'Elvira Madigan'
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K482
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K491
Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K595
Schubert:
Impromptu in A flat major, D935 No. 2
Impromptu in F minor, D935, No. 4
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D960
Schumann:
Fantasie in C major, Op. 17
Carnaval, Op. 9
Kinderszenen, Op. 15
Kreisleriana, Op. 16
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54