Customer Reviews

Great Pianists of the 20th Century: The Complete Edition, Box 1

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Phillips' Great Pianists of the 20th Century issue has gotten a lot of publicity in the ten or so years since it has been released. In a musical niche suffering from falling revenues, it was a decent seller. But it left many connoisseurs disappointed, as the quality was limited to the fancy packaging.

It's useful to contrast the Phillips issue with BMG's 1999 reissue of Arthur Rubinstein's complete recordings. The Rubinstein cycle was done the right way, meaning that the recordings were newly remastered from the best available sources, accurate documentation on recording dates and locations was provided, and the liner notes were perceptive. Sadly, this is not the case with the Great Pianists reissue, all the more surprising because Phillips is a well regarded Classical label, whereas BMG (formerly RCA) has long been thought of as a dinosaur.

The documentation in this series is slipshod and often plain inaccurate. On the Paderewski set, the performance of Liszt's La Leggierezza, is not actually by Paderewski. Instead, Phillips has included the performance by Benno Moiseiwitsch (which is also in their Moiseiwitsch volume). The liner notes also claim the piece includes a coda composed by Moiseiwitsch, when in fact it was composed by Leschetizky. Both volumes dedicated to Alfred Cortot provide erroneous recording dates for Schumann's Kreisleriana and Debussy's preludes (Kreisleriana was actually an outtake that Cortot rejected, but at least Phillips had the decency to withdraw and reissue the Schumann with Cortot's approved version). For the Hoffman volume, you're better off getting the Marston set (from which the Phillips volume was ripped off).

Then there is the question of judgment: A volume dedicated to the likes of Andrei Gavrilov (a banger if there ever was one), with two volumes for Byron Janis when one would have been sufficient, but none for Mieczyslaw Horszowski (a sensitive musician who had the longest career in the history of the performing arts and was Leschetizky's last surviving pupil); none for Peter Serkin (one of the 20th Century's foremost exponents of contemporary music); none for Busoni (considered by Arthur Rubinstein to be the greatest pianist of his time). Granted, Busoni's recordings would not have been enough to fill a complete volume, but it could have been combined with other neglected pianists who made few recordings.

As for remastering, wherever they could get away with it, Phillips has opted for the most easily obtainable copy rather than the best sounding. For example, in the Horowitz all-Schumann volume, EMI's shoddy 78RPM transfers from decades ago are used, which include badly managed side changes, are mid-range biased, and have poor bass response. Same with their poorly programmed Rudolf Serkin set, which eliminates the transitional chord between the second and third movements of Beethoven's Appassionata.

Ironically, for a product which was sponsored by and bears the Steinway logo, many of the artists included preferred, and many of these recordings feature, other pianos.

No doubt, there are some great performances in this set, but they're also available elsewhere - - and frequently in better sound. If you're interested in learning more about great pianists, search through Amazon, read the reviews, and you'll be able to make an informed choice (or go to your local library).

I had to write this review, as I am enthralled with this set. I have been going through it in order having already purchased a few individual units from the collection earlier. I am not sure what `insane' was talking about as there is NO repetition. Sure some pianists perform the same pieces, isn't that what they did in reality? The idea is to appreciate the different nuances and approaches taken by these artists. You will then enjoy these pieces from a better vantage.

It is a large ambitious contribution to the art of great piano playing. It is a labor of love and represents a tremendous amount of research and cooperation between many record companies. Rather then representing insanity, it is a resource to treasure.

Yes experts can quibble over who was left out, and what performances were inserted. I do not think such a massive undertaking could have been accomplished without someone being able to find faults. Overall however, unless you already have a monumental collection, (it would have to be almost legendary), this incredible set will give you a rewarding look into 74 of the greatest pianist of all time. You will come away with a honed sense of appreciation for your likes and dislikes. You will undoubtedly become someone who will search out recordings and be able to enjoy them for the rest of your life with a refined ear.

The only negative is this price. I would shop around, as it is daunting to spend 2 thousand dollars on such a collection. Of course you do get 200 CD's. However, the used collections might be good to consider.

Enjoy these masterpieces. I am not ashamed of owning this music as `insane' implies. I am proud to have enriched my life.

This series attempts to present important and representative performances by most of the major pianists of the 20th century. One might quibble a bit with the choices, but the works presented are of consistently high quality, and often do represent what may be the best works of a performer. Since this covers most of the time that recorded music existed, some of the recordings are technically challenged, as there is only so much one can do to enhance an old recording. Still, these appear to have been treated with love and respect in their restorations. Since this series is so large (and expensive!) one is tempted to "cherry pick" through the series, yet by doing so one can easily overlook gems by artists one is less familiar with. This large a set must inevitably have many versions of the same pieces, and takes many hours to listen to. The true enthusiast will appreciate the differences in interpretation, whereas the less experienced listener may find the set repetitive and overwhelming. If one has the time to really dig into this set, it can provide years of exploration and discovery. It would make a wonderful gift for some special music lover in your life ... or for yourself!

This set is for serious piano fans, not for the ones who just start building up a CD library. I sort of agree with one of the reviewers, that there are many repetitions. But if you love piano, you wish to hear the same piece in different interpretations. Indeed, I really like this feature of this set: I can compare the style of various performers.
If you are into piano music, I encourage you to grab this set, if you can find it used (not available anymore at Amazon). I also hope, that there will be a continuation, in which other great pianists, who were left out because of the space limitation, will be included (Prokofiev, Bartok, Dohnanyi, etc).

I've put a lot of thought into constructing my own piano library, and unless you can easily afford the present set, I would recommend a different approach to collecting piano music. This set emphasizes the piano player rather than the piano composer. Of course both are important. For example, the "Barcarolle" appears in this set EIGHT times. I'm sorry, although I love the piece, if I am going to spend [the money], I would prefer more variety. Where are the Alkan, Medtner, and Szymanawski compositions represented in this set? I appreciate having so many interpretations of the same pieces, but I would also appreciate more exposure to pieces not so popular. The selection by Philips which I consider a somewhat popular selection suggests to me that when Philips constructed this set, they realized most people would be buying the disks separately, and this affected the selection. And it's not just that obscure composers are left out, but also if one spends so much money on piano recordings, you'd think you'd want to buy pieces from a composer in completeness. For example, an alternative way to construct a library would be to combine purchases of complete cycles, e.g. complete Beethoven sonatas, complete Scriabin preludes, etc., along with outstanding recordings of more particular pieces. I'm not sure why someone would want to concentrate so much on so many famous artists, instead of acquiring complete sets of compositions. For me the composer is more important, or at least, if I am going to spend [the money]on piano recordings, I'd prefer more complete, rather than snapshot, exposure to the composers.

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.

This is not a good library of piano music. The reason is, there is too much repetition. I'm not saying the series is bad. The series is wonderful. But this collection as a whole is a bad libary. For the same money you could collect together (with more effort) an incredible libary of piano music. There are so many wonderful cd's out there, this is just a waste of money. If you can actually afford to spend 2 grand on piano music, then either (1) spend the time and do some research to get a good library of piano music, which will probably include some selections from this collection, or (2) hire someone to do that for you. Personally I would be embarrassed to own this whole collection, since that shows I have put little thought into my purchases of piano music.

it is a fantastic and fine musical's collection. It is an important cultural contribution to the musical hereditage of the 20 th century.