Bach, J S: Italian Concerto, BWV971

“He left an ocean of music” Martha Argerich

First release ever of a swinging virtuosic Bach album by cult pianist Friedrich Gulda. These are live and studio recordings from 1955 to 1969, in both mono and stereo. Two big works (English Suites nos. 2 and 3) form the frame of magically energetic and moving recital. Gulda briefly introduces some of the works himself. Also included are private recordings (from Uppsala and Trieste), made by Gulda himself while on tour, now in the Gulda archive

With Gulda’s own jazz take on Bach - his wonderfully exuberant Prelude and Fugue - as bonus! Remastering supervised by Gulda's son Paul, who also wrote the liner notes.

Michelangeli’s first recordings were made for HMV in Milan in 1939, following his win at the Geneva International Piano Competition.

In Granados’s Andaluza Michelangeli uses a soulful singing tone to great advantage, while his phenomenal virtuoso technique can be heard in Marescotti’s Fantasque, one of the test pieces for the Geneva Competition. These and the 1948 recordings of Bach, Galuppi and Brahms demonstrate that as a young man Michelangeli was already a consummate artist.

As a critic wrote about the recording of the Brahms Paganini Variations: “What a pianist! Technically, the playing is astonishing: interpretatively, here is a very great musician…altogether this is the most exciting piano performance and recording I have heard for many a long day.”

“Apollonian stance and awe-inspiring control….. The dynamic range reinforces the Lisztian patina of Michelangeli's conception….[a] ravishing, multi-layered sound world.” Classics Today