Customer Reviews

Great Pianists of the 20th Century: The Complete Edition (Box 2) (Box Set)

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Phillips' Great Pianists of the 20th Century issue has gotten a lot of publicity in the ten or so years since it was 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 then 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, pianos from other manufacturers.

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).

Why seperate this box set of 200 CDs into two items, Box 1 and Box 2?
My proposed listing of the complete box set was rejected by Amazon.ca
Amazon.ca has a very poor description of the item.
Amazon.com have a better one.