Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Box Set 202CDs

Label : Philips
Format : Flac track
Cover : Yes

Great Pianists of the 20th Century was a 202-CD box set released by Philips Records in 1999 and sponsored by Steinway & Sons.

The box set comprised 101 volumes featuring 72 pianists of the 20th century, each volume with two CDs and a booklet about the life and work of the featured pianist. The set contains a variety of composers from different eras, from Baroque to Contemporary classical. The material was the result of a collaborative association between Philips (who had access to the Polygram Records back catalogue) and a number of other labels, notably EMI Classics, as no single label possessed a representative set of recordings for every pianist considered to be significant. Material from Warner Classics and Sony Classics was also used.

The majority of the pianists feature on one set only, with sixteen appearing on a second set. Seven artists (Arrau, Brendel, Gilels, Horowitz, Kempff, Richter and Rubinstein) are featured across three sets.

Perceptive pianophiles have pointed out various errors in the set, including misattributed recordings and use of unauthorized takes. For example, the Paderewski volume contains a performance of Liszt’s "La Leggierezza" which was actually recorded by Benno Moiseiwitsch – also included in the latter’s volume. Further, the liner notes claim the cadenza of the piece was by Moiseiwitsch, while it was actually by Theodor Leschetizky. The first of two Cortot volumes was withdrawn when it was discovered that a previously rejected performance of Schumann’s Kreisleriana was issued by mistake. The volume was reissued with the correct take. The series has also been criticized for the lack of remastering of historic recordings, notably in the Hofmann reissue which degraded the transfers originally issued by Ward Marston.

Box 000 - Sampler
Box 001 - Geza Anda
Box 001 - Geza Anda
Box 002 - Martha Argerich I
Box 003 - Martha Argerich II
Box 004 - Claudio Arrau I
Box 005 - Claudio Arrau II
Box 006 - Claudio Arrau III
Box 007 - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Box 008 - Wilhelm Backhaus
Box 009 - Daniel Barenboim
Box 010 - Jorge Bolet I
Box 011 - Jorge Bolet II
Box 012 - Alfred Brendel I
Box 013 - Alfred Brendel II
Box 014 - Alfred Brendel III
Box 015 - Lyubov Bruk & Mark Taimanov
Box 016 - Robert Casadesus
Box 017 - Shura Cherkassky I
Box 018 - Shura Cherkassky II
Box 019 - Van Cliburn
Box 020 - Alfred Cortot I
Box 021 - Alfred Cortot II
Box 022 - Clifford Curzon
Box 023 - Gyorgy Cziffra
Box 024 - Christoph Eschenbach
Box 025 - Edwin Fischer I
Box 026 - Edwin Fischer II
Box 027 - Leon Fleisher
Box 028 - Samson Francois
Box 029 - Nelson Freire
Box 030 - Ignaz Friedman
Box 031 - Andrei Gavrilov
Box 032 - Walter Gieseking I
Box 033 - Walter Gieseking II
Box 034 - Emil Gilels I
Box 035 - Emil Gilels II
Box 036 - Emil Gilels III
Box 037 - Grigory Ginsburg
Box 038 - Leopold Godowsky
Box 039 - Glenn Gould
Box 040 - Friedrich Gulda I
Box 041 - Friedrich Gulda II
Box 042 - Ingrid Haebler
Box 043 - Clara Haskil I
Box 044 - Clara Haskil II
Box 045 - Myra Hess
Box 046 - Josef Hofmann
Box 047 - Vladimir Horowitz I
Box 048 - Vladimir Horowitz II
Box 049 - Vladimir Horowitz III
Box 050 - Byron Janis I
Box 051 - Byron Janis II
Box 052 - William Kapell
Box 053 - Julius Katchen I
Box 054 - Julius Katchen II
Box 055 - Wilhelm Kempff I
Box 056 - Wilhelm Kempff II
Box 057 - Wilhelm Kempff III
Box 058 - Evgeny Kissin
Box 059 - Zoltan Kocsis
Box 060 - Stephen Kovacevich I
Box 061 - Stephen Kovacevich II
Box 062 - Alicia de Larrocha I
Box 063 - Alicia de Larrocha II
Box 064 - Josef & Rosina Lhevinne
Box 065 - Dinu Lipatti
Box 066 - Radu Lupu
Box 067 - Nikita Magaloff
Box 068 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli I
Box 069 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli II
Box 070 - Benno Moiseiwitsch
Box 071 - Ivan Moravec
Box 072 - John Ogdon I
Box 073 - John Ogdon II
Box 074 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Box 075 - Murray Perahia
Box 076 - Maria Joao Pires
Box 077 - Mikhail Pletnev
Box 078 - Maurizio Pollini I
Box 079 - Maurizio Pollini II
Box 080 - Andre Previn
Box 081 - Sergei Rachmaninoff
Box 082 - Sviatoslav Richter I
Box 083 - Sviatoslav Richter II
Box 084 - Sviatoslav Richter III
Box 085 - Artur Rubinstein I
Box 086 - Artur Rubinstein II
Box 087 - Artur Rubinstein III
Box 088 - Andras Schiff
Box 089 - Artur Schnabel
Box 090 - Rudolf Serkin
Box 091 - Vladimir Sofronitsky
Box 092 - Solomon
Box 093 - Rosalyn Tureck I
Box 094 - Rosalyn Tureck II
Box 095 - Mitsuko Uchida
Box 096 - Andre Watts
Box 097 - Alexis Weissenberg
Box 098 - Earl Wild
Box 099 - Maria Yudina
Box 100 - Krystian Zimerman

Tracklist : Great Pianists of the 20th Century