Various Artists - Complete Columbia Album - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Eight CD set. In summer 1987, nine years after he first requested permission to emigrate, the 35-year-old Russian pianist Vladimir Feltsman was finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union. Feltsman, who had studied at the Moscow Conservatory with the legendary Yakov Flier and won first prize at the prestigious Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris at the age of 19, arrived in New York amid a welter of publicity. CBS Masterworks offered him a recording contract, while President Ronald Reagan welcomed him to the White House for a recital that was glowingly reviewed in the New York Times. Now Sony Classical is reissuing his Carnegie debut recital from 1987, a Russian Chopin recording that preceded it and an even earlier Schubert recital, from Paris in 1978, along with all the other Feltsman performances captured by CBS mics before his collaboration with the tag ended in 1989.

We tend to remember the British pianist CYRIL SMITH (1909-1974) these days as the pianist who overcame the misfortune of a paralyzing stroke to form a hugely successful duo for three hands with his wife, pianist Phyllis Sellick. Before then though, he had conquered the virtuoso repertoire in a most un-British fashion - making Rachmaninov the center of his art and recording a series of warhorses in spectacular style. The Dohnányi Capriccio of 1929, his earliest recording, and part of a prize for a competition win, lays down the gauntlet in a coruscating performance to rival the Horwitz version released the same year. His recordings of the 2nd and 3rd Rachmaninov concertos and Rhapsody were for a time best-sellers. But there is poetry and charm too, particularly in the various encore-like transcriptions he set down. This set brings together for the first time all the recordings he made as a solo player before his stroke.

Announcing the vinyl reissue of InchAirconditioningInch by the pioneering British band Curved Air, a groundbreaking album that fused progressive rock with classical and electronic influences. Originally released in 1970, InchAirconditioningInch was one of the first rock albums to be issued as a picture disc, and it captured the attention of listeners with it's innovative sound and genre-defying approach. Led by the captivating vocals of Sonja Kristina, Curved Air's lineup included Francis Monkman on keyboards and guitar, Darryl Way on electric violin, and Florian Pilkington-Miksa on drums, each bringing a distinct musical voice to the album. Tracks like InchIt Happened TodayInch and InchVivaldiInch showcase the band's technical prowess and artistic vision, blending rock energy with classical complexity. This vinyl reissue offers fans both new and old the chance to experience InchAirconditioningInch in rich, analog sound, honoring it's place as a milestone in progressive rock history.