COMPOSERS IN PERSON" - Béla Bartók, Erno Dohnányi, Paul Hindemith, Aram Khachaturian, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, Charles-Marie Vidor, Louis Vierne, Marcel Dupré, Olivier Messiaen, Edward Elgar, Sergei Prokofiev, Alexander Glazounov, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Hans Pfitzner, Darius Milhaud, Benjamin Britten, Dimitri Shostakovich, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Enrique Granados, Manuel De Falla, Federico Mompou, Joaquin Nin, Gustav Holst, Franz Lehár, Nikolai Medtner, Albert Roussel, and Florent Schmitt
EMI CLASSICS 17575 (22 disks) TT: app. 36 hours
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This is a fabulous, essential collection! Many collectors will already own at least some of the original CD issues in this series (which were mid-price) and those have more elaborate presentation. Original essays and photos that were found in previous issues are not to be had here, but we do have very detailed information about each recording including matrix numbers and dates. A major omission, of necessity as he recorded only for RCA, is Sergei Rachmaninoff—but let us be grateful for what we have. The importance of these recordings cannot be overestimated. Here's an opportunity to hear composers performing their own music (and sometimes others as well), and an incredible historic bargain!