Emanuel Ax has been classed among the master pianists ever since his victory at the inaugural Arthur Rubinstein Competition in 1974. His long association with RCA began the very next year, with a spellbinding disc of Chopin and Liszt transcriptions (“virtuosity of the Michelangeli or Pollini class here”, wrote Gramophone). Over the next 12 years he released 23 albums on the label, spanning much of the great piano literature, and the complete set of his RCA recordings is now reissued by Sony Classical for the first time.
With a 19th-century focus, the collection contains five CDs of Ax’s famed Chopin, five more of Beethoven, several of Brahms, Schubert and Mozart, and many other classic recordings.Playing Chopin, wrote Gramophone, Emanuel Ax shows “all the relaxed fluency and tonal elegance of a master pianist”. His performances on that LP, containing the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise brillante and Fourth Scherzo, were “of a superlative distinction”. Remarkably, Ax was only 26 when he recorded this album, in 1975.“Deeply felt and exuberant” (New York Times) performances of the Brahms cello sonatas mark his longstanding association with Yo-Yo Ma, while Ax accompanies baritone Håkan Hagegård in Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Die schöne Müllerin. “Emanuel Ax is a diligent and responsive Schubertian,” wrote BBC Music Magazine of a “Trout” Quintet recording with the Guarneri Quartet.Ax’s “deeply insightful” (New York Times) interpretations of Beethoven’s “Appassionata” and “Les Adieux” sonatas are joined here by the “Waldstein” Sonata and “Eroica” Variations, as well as a complete set of concertos with André Previn and the RPO, and a Choral Fantasy with the New York Philharmonic. “Ax is a first-rate Beethoven player,” wrote Gramophone of his “Emperor” Concerto.
Elsewhere, Ax’s virtuosity takes centre stage in a Ravel album including Gaspard de la nuit, while his commitment to chamber music is shown in Schumann, Dvo?ák and Brahms Piano Quintets with the Cleveland String Quartet, and a Weber and Schubert album with clarinettist Richard Stoltzman. Many fine concerto performances include four by Mozart, Brahms’s First with the Chicago Symphony, and both of Chopin’s concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy.
Of course, there are more of Ax’s legendary Chopin recordings as well, including the Second and Third Sonatas and the four Ballades. The Ballades, Gramophone wrote, are “a reminder of the awe-inspiring calibre of Emanuel Ax’s Chopin”.
DISC 1
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58
Schubert-Liszt: Das Wandern
Schubert-Liszt: Der Müller und der Bach
Schubert-Liszt: Liebesbotschaft
Schubert-Liszt: Hark, Hark, the Lark
Liszt: Gnomenreigen
Liszt: Etude in A Minor after Paganini
DISC 2
Chopin: Grande Polonaise brillante précédée d’un Andante spianato for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 22
Chopin: Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1
Chopin: Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Op. 54 (1975 Recording)
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-Flat Major, Op. 61
DISC 3
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 “Waldstein”
Beethoven: Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 35 “Eroica Variations”
DISC 4
Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 Emanuel Ax, piano Cleveland Quartet
DISC 5
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, M. 55
Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61
Ravel: Ma mère l’oye (Piano four hands)
Emanuel Ax, piano · Yoko Nozaki, piano
DISC 6
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor
Emanuel Ax, piano
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy conductor
Chopin: Trois Nouvelles Études
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31
DISC 7
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat, K.482
Emanuel Ax, piano
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Eduardo Mata, conductor
DISC 8
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata”
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat Major, Op. 81a “Les Adieux”
Beethoven: Polonaise in C, Op. 89
DISC 9
Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor
Emanuel Ax, piano
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Eugene Ormandy, conductor
DISC 10
Schumann: Humoreske, Op. 20
Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
DISC 11
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.543
Mozart: Piano concerto No. 18 in B-Flat, K.456
Emanuel Ax piano
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Pinchas Zukerman conductor
DISC 12
Weber: Grand Duo Concertant for Piano and Clarinet in E-Flat Major, J.204, Op. 48
Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A Minor, D. 821
Emanuel Ax piano
Richard Stoltzman clarinet
DISC 13
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34
Emanuel Ax piano
Cleveland Quartet
DISC 14
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
Emanuel Ax piano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
James Levine conductor
DISC 15
Schubert: Quintet in A, D.667 “Trout”
Mozart: Serenade in G Major, K. 525 “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
Emanuel Ax piano
Guarneri Quartet
DISC 16
Schubert: Schwanengesang, D. 957
Håkan Hagegård baritone
Emanuel Ax piano
DISC 17
Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1, Op. 38 in E Minor
Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2, Op. 99 in F
Emanuel Ax piano
Yo-Yo Ma cello
DISC 18
Chopin: Ballades
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35
DISC 19
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Opus 73 “Emperor” in E-Flat Major
Beethoven: Choral Fantasia in C Minor, Op. 80
Emanuel Ax piano
New York Choral Artists
Joseph Flummerfelt chorus master
New York Philharmonic
Zubin Mehta conductor
DISC 20
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 1, Op. 15 in C Major
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 2, Op. 19 in B Flat Major
Emanuel Ax piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
André Previn conductor
DISC 21
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3, Op. 37 in C Minor
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op 58
Emanuel Ax piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
André Previn conductor
DISC 22
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 47
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat, Op. 44
Emanuel Ax piano
Cleveland Quartet
DISC 23
Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin, Op. 25, D. 795
Håkan Hagegård baritone
Emanuel Ax piano
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