Beethoven / Ax Complete Rca Album Collection CD

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 H?kan Hageg?rd in Schubert's Schwanengesang andDie sch?ne M?llerin. "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 Andr? 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, Dvork 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

1. Disc 1 2. Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 58 3. Schubert-Liszt: Das Wandern 4. Schubert-Liszt: Der M?ller Und Der Bach 5. Schubert-Liszt: Liebesbotschaft 6. Schubert-Liszt: Hark, Hark, the Lark 7. Liszt: Gnomenreigen 8. Liszt: Etude in a Minor After Paganini 9. Disc 2 10. Chopin: Grande Polonaise Brillante Pr?c?d?e D'un Andante Spianato for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 22 11. Chopin: Nocturne in B Major, Op. 62, No. 1 12. Chopin: Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Op. 54 (1975 Recording) 13. Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-Flat Major, Op. 61 14. Disc 3 15. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 "Waldstein" 16. Beethoven: Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 35 "Eroica Variations" 17. Disc 4 18. Dvorßk: Piano Quintet in a Major, Op. 81 19. Emanuel Ax, Piano 20. Cleveland Quartet 21. Disc 5 22. Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit, M. 55 23. Ravel: Valses Nobles Et Sentimentales, M. 61 24. Ravel: Ma M?re L'oye (Piano Four Hands) 25. Emanuel Ax, Piano ? Yoko Nozaki, Piano 26. Disc 6 27. Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor 28. Emanuel Ax, Piano 29. The Philadelphia Orchestra 30. Eugene Ormandy Conductor 31. Chopin: Trois Nouvelles ?tudes 32. Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat minor, Op. 31 33. Disc 7 34. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20, KV 466 35. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat, K.482 36. Emanuel Ax, Piano 37. Dallas Symphony Orchestra 38. Eduardo Mata, Conductor 39. Disc 8 40. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" 41. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat Major, Op. 81A "Les Adieux" 42. Beethoven: Polonaise in C, Op. 89 43. Disc 9 44. Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor 45. Emanuel Ax, Piano 46. The Philadelphia Orchestra 47. Eugene Ormandy, Conductor 48. Disc 10 49. Schumann: Humoreske, Op. 20 50. Schumann: Fantasiest?cke, Op. 12 51. Disc 11 52. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K.543 53. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-Flat, K.456 54. Emanuel Ax Piano 55. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra 56. Pinchas Zukerman Conductor 57. Disc 12 58. Weber: Grand Duo Concertant for Piano and Clarinet in E-Flat Major, J.204, Op. 48 59. Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in a Minor, D. 821 60. Emanuel Ax Piano 61. Richard Stoltzman Clarinet 62. Disc 13 63. Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 64. Emanuel Ax Piano 65. Cleveland Quartet 66. Disc 14 67. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 68. Emanuel Ax Piano 69. Chicago Symphony Orchestra 70. James Levine Conductor 71. Disc 15 72. Schubert: Quintet in a, D.667 "Trout" 73. Mozart: Serenade in G Major, K. 525 "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" 74. Emanuel Ax Piano 75. Guarneri Quartet 76. Disc 16 77. Schubert: Schwanengesang, D. 957 78. H?kan Hageg?rd Baritone 79. Emanuel Ax Piano 80. Disc 17 81. Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1, Op. 38 in E minor 82. Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2, Op. 99 in F 83. Emanuel Ax Piano 84. Yo-Yo Ma Cello 85. Disc 18 86. Chopin: Ballades 87. Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35 88. Disc 19 89. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Opus 73 "Emperor" in E-Flat Major 90. Beethoven: Choral Fantasia in C minor, Op. 80 91. Emanuel Ax Piano 92. New York Choral Artists 93. Joseph Flummerfelt Chorus Master 94. New York Philharmonic 95. Zubin Mehta Conductor 96. Disc 20 97. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 1, Op. 15 in C Major 98. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 2, Op. 19 in B Flat Major 99. Emanuel Ax Piano 100. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 101. Andr? Previn Conductor 102. Disc 21 103. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3, Op. 37 in C minor 104. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op 58 105. Emanuel Ax Piano 106. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 107. Andr? Previn Conductor 108. Disc 22 109. Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 47 110. Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat, Op. 44 111. Emanuel Ax Piano 112. Cleveland Quartet 113. Disc 23 114. Schubert: Die Sch÷ne M?llerin, Op. 25, D. 795 115. H?kan Hageg?rd Baritone 116. Emanuel Ax Piano