It was in 1958 that a fabulously talented 23-year-old French pianist made his name in the musical world with the release of his debut concerto recording for Columbia Masterworks. That coupling of the Grieg A minor and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, was the first of many best-selling albums that Philippe Entremont would record for Columbia over the next two decades. In 2014, Sony Classical issued set containing all of his concerto recordings. Now, to mark Entremont’s 85th birthday in 2019, Sony is pleased to announce the release of his complete solo recordings at budget price. Philippe Entremont was born in Reims to two professional musicians who were also his first teachers. He then studied with the legendary pianist Marguerite Long and entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he won numerous prizes. When he was only 16, he won the prestigious Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition. European tours soon followed as well as his Carnegie Hall debut in 1953: playing concertos by Liszt E flat Concerto and André Jolivet, he “brought down the house” with his “technical and musical mastery” (New York Times). The new release, which contains many recordings never before issued, ranges from Entremont’s 1956 Chopin recital originally released on CBS’s Epic label to a recital of keyboard favorites he recorded in Vienna in 1985. There is Entremont’s Debussy, played “with bold splashes of color… and tremendous warmth” (High Fidelity) and his Liszt. The many other recitals in this capacious, newly remastered reissue showcase composers ranging from Rameau, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Kuhlau, Clementi, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Mendelssohn to Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. There is Spanish music by Granados, Albeniz and Falla. And, naturally, there is an abundance of French music – works by Fauré, Ravel, Satie, Poulenc and Saint-Saëns. Two very special albums recorded in 1979 deserve separate mention: a coupling of Dohnányi “Nursery Song” Variations, the Strauss Burleske and the Litolff Scherzo, with Okko Kamu conducting the National Philharmonic, and the delectable recital from Paris in which Philippe Entremont accompanies the great soprano Régine Crespin in mélodies by Ravel and Satie.
CD 1: Chopin Recital
CD 2: Pictures At An Exhibition // Alborada Del Gracioso / Pavane For A Dead Princess
CD 3: Plays The Four Chopin Ballades
CD 4: Maurice Gendron, Philippe Entremont, Beethoven*, Brahms* – Sonata No. 3 / Sonata No. 2
CD 5: Clair De Lune: A Debussy Piano Recital By Philippe Entremont
CD 6: Romantic Piano Music Of Tchaikovsky
CD 7: Debussy For Piano
CD 8: Favorite Melodies Of Liszt: Liebestraum
CD 9: Entremont Plays All-Time Favorite Piano Encores
CD 10: Entremont Plays The Chopin Waltzes
CD 11: Entremont Plays Chopin: The Favorite Polonaises
CD 12: Entremont Plays Chopin
CD 13: The Four Scherzos
CD 14: A La Française (Debussy, Ravel, Chabrier, Satie, Fauré, Poulenc)
CD 15: Philippe Entremont Plays Burgmüller – 25 Easy Studies
CD 16: Philippe Entremont Plays Bach Invention
CD 17: Philippe Entremont plays Anna Magdalena Bach’s Notebook
CD 18/19: Philippe Entremont Plays Sonatinas
CD 20/21: The Complete Works For Solo Piano
CD 22/23: Philippe Entremont plays Sonaten Album I, Part 1
CD 24/25: Philippe Entremont Plays Sonaten Album I Part II
CD 26: Entremont Plays Piano Favorites
CD 27: Variations On A Nursery Song / Burleske / Scherzo From Concerto Symphonique
CD 28: Carnival Of The Animals (Chamber Version)
CD 29: Histoires Naturelles / Songs ~ Mélodies
CD 30: Piano / Klavier
CD 31: Chopin Favorites
CD 32: Für Elise – Entremont Plays Piano Favorites
CD 33: Philippe Entremont Plays Piano Favorites
CD 34 [1-8]: from Fantasy-Impromptu
CD 34 [9-14]: from Ritual Fire Dance
CD 34 [15]: from The Chopin I Love