Great Pianists of the 20th Century: The Complete Edition (200 CD box set)

Audio CD
Number of Discs: 200
Format: Box set
Label: Polygram Records
Discontinued by the manufacturer
Size: 61.8 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Box 001 Geza Anda
Box 002 Martha Argerich
Box 003 Martha Argerich
Box 004 Claudio Arrau
Box 005 Claudio Arrau
Box 006 Claudio Arrau
Box 007 Vladimir Ashkenazy
Box 008 Wilhelm Backhaus
Box 009 Daniel Barenboim
Box 010 Jorge Bolet
Box 011 Jorge Bolet
Box 012 Alfred Brendel
Box 013 Alfred Brendel
Box 014 Alfred Brendel
Box 015 Lyubov Bruk & Mark Taimanov
Box 016 Robert Casadesus
Box 017 Shura Cherkassky
Box 018 Shura Cherkassky
Box 019 Van Cliburn
Box 020 Alfred Cortot
Box 021 Alfred Cortot
Box 022 Clifford Curzon
Box 023 Gyorgy Cziffra
Box 024 Christoph Eschenbach
Box 025 Edwin Fischer
Box 026 Edwin Fischer
Box 027 Leon Fleisher
Box 028 Samson Francois
Box 029 Nelson Freire
Box 030 Ignaz Friedman
Box 031 Andrei Gavrilov
Box 032 Walter Gieseking
Box 033 Walter Gieseking
Box 034 Emil Gilels
Box 035 Emil Gilels
Box 036 Emil Gilels
Box 037 Grigory Ginsburg
Box 038 Leopold Godowsky
Box 039 Glenn Gould
Box 040 Friedrich Gulda
Box 041 Friedrich Gulda
Box 042 Ingrid Haebler
Box 043 Clara Haskil
Box 044 Clara Haskil
Box 045 Myra Hess
Box 046 Josef Hofmann
Box 047 Vladimir Horowitz
Box 048 Vladimir Horowitz
Box 049 Vladimir Horowitz
Box 050 Byron Janis
Box 051 Byron Janis
Box 052 William Kapell
Box 053 Julius Katchen
Box 054 Julius Katchen
Box 055 Wilhelm Kempff
Box 056 Wilhelm Kempff
Box 057 Wilhelm Kempff
Box 058 Evgeny Kissin
Box 059 Zoltan Kocsis
Box 060 Stephen Kovacevich
Box 061 Stephen Kovacevich
Box 062 Alicia de Larrocha
Box 063 Alicia de Larrocha
Box 064 Josef & Rosina Lhevinne
Box 065 Dinu Lipatti
Box 066 Radu Lupu
Box 067 Nikita Magaloff
Box 068 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Box 069 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Box 070 Benno Moiseiwitsch
Box 071 Ivan Moravec
Box 072 John Ogdon
Box 073 John Ogdon
Box 074 Ignacy Paderewski
Box 075 Murray Perahia
Box 076 Maria Joao Pires
Box 077 Mikhail Pletnev
Box 078 Maurizio Pollini
Box 079 Maurizio Pollini
Box 080 Andre Previn
Box 081 Sergei Rachmaninoff
Box 082 Sviatoslav Richter
Box 083 Sviatoslav Richter
Box 084 Sviatoslav Richter
Box 085 Artur Rubinstein
Box 086 Artur Rubinstein
Box 087 Artur Rubinstein
Box 088 Andras Schiff
Box 089 Artur Schnabel
Box 090 Rudolf Serkin
Box 091 Vladimir Sofronitsky
Box 092 Solomon
Box 093 Rosalyn Tureck
Box 094 Rosalyn Tureck
Box 095 Mitsuko Uchida
Box 096 Andre Watts
Box 097 Alexis Weissenberg
Box 098 Earl Wild
Box 099 Maria Yudina
Box 100 Krystian Zimerman

Tracklist PDF

Face it, Kids…This is Wonderful

Whatever its flaws, this set is sensational. My interest in music, classical included, is not limited by any means to piano. THAT SAID, if I were to be banished to a desert island and forced to live the rest of my life with ONE possession, it would be this set (and hopefully a CD player). I have listened to the entire collection twice, and perhaps more than anything have been impressed with the choice of recordings. Many duplications of pieces exist, but the performances – varied as they are – are SO incredible that I, for one, never tire of anything in this set. Pianists for whom I had little interest come off as giants, due mainly to the selections of recordings chosen. Rarely was I disappointed when I did get to my “favorite” pianists. Without fail, they managed to choose and present my own “special favorites” in most cases. How do you take the entire recordings of Horowitz & Rubinstein and decide which to choose? (I do own their complete recordings, incidentally … for the most part) Considering that this set CANNOT contain EVERY great recording ever done, they certainly have presented a gold mine here. Alfred Cortot, for example, playing the Saint-Saens 4th Concerto … a recording I had always seen “referenced” on lists of recommended recordings… “who the HECK is Alfred Cortot” I used to think, as I surrounded myself with recordings of more recent celebrities. Hearing the vibrant, grisly, thrilling playing of this and other performances I’d only “heard about” before certainly removed the question as to WHY these wonderful performances keep being “referred to” on lists. And that’s just a needle from the haystack. These are wonderful recordings. Hype? …I don’t think so! The Byron Janis collection included here — alone — is worth the (full) price of this set, and that’s just one of the leaves on the trees. IF YOU HAVE THE MEANS, buy it! A grateful hats off to the creators of this magnificent adventure through great recordings.