Cheap Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition Of Belgium 1951-2001 (Box Set) (Music) (Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven, Philippe Boesmans, Johannes Brahms, Ernest Chausson, Fryderyk Chopin, Claude Debussy, Frederic Devreese, Leos Janacek, Leon Jongen) Price

It seems preposterous to recommend an expensive 12-CD compilation of prize-winning interpretations, recorded in the heat of combat during the Queen Elisabeth Competitions in the years from 1951 to 2000. But several performances are likely to interest piano and violin aficionados. Vladimir Ashkenazy (first prize, 1956), for example, is heard in a performance of a work he never recorded, and--so far as one can tell--never performed again. But Ashkenazy gives Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 the wildest ride you'll ever hear. Despite the power and velocity with which he hurtles through the piece, his playing often possesses the delicacy of lace: his octaves are feather-weighted and lyrical cantilenas are never hurried.

Almost equally impressive is Ekaterina Novitskaya (1968)--at 17, the youngest first-prize winner--in Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Her playing is colorful, exciting, and powerful enough to shake the fillings loose from your teeth. Perhaps the single finest performance in the set comes from Youri Egorov (third prize, 1975) in Schumann's "Carnaval." Compared with the winged flight of this unedited live performance, Egorov's otherwise fine studio recording (EMI) sounds earthbound. Alexei Michlin took first prize in 1963 with a performance of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 that matches those of Kogan and Oistrakh at their best. In Ravel's "Tzigane," another Russian first-prize-winning violinist (1967), Philippe Hirshhorn, exudes even more high-wire intensity than his friend and rival from childhood, Gidon Kremer, does in Schumann's "Fantasie." Four years later, the Israeli Miriam Freed beat a strong Russian contingent with a gloriously sonorous and deeply affecting Sibelius's Violin Concerto. In contests from which the Russians were absent, first prize winners were usually less impressive. Such was surely the case with Pierre-Alain Volondat (1983), whose readings of Brahms's Four Ballades are merely petulant and with Lebanon's Abdel-Rahman El-Bacha (1978) in a fleet, but emotionally and pianistically lightweight performance of Prokofiev's Second Concerto. --Stephen Wigler

ARTIST:	Bela Bartok, Ludwig van Beethoven, Philippe Boesmans, Johannes Brahms, Ernest Chausson, Fryderyk Chopin, Claude Debussy, Frederic Devreese, Leos Janacek, Leon Jongen
CATEGORY:	Music
MANUFACTURER:	Cypres
FEATURES:	Box set
TYPE:	20th/21st Century Music for Voice and Keyboard, Ballade for Keyboard, Barcarolle for Keyboard, Box Sets (Audio Only), Chamber, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Collections-Artist Desc., Classical Music, Classical Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard, Concerto, German/Austrian Classical Period Opera, Italian Baroque Opera, Italian Romantic Opera, Keyboard, Keyboard Music for More Than One Player, Keyboard Work with Descriptive or Unclassified Title, Opera, Orchestral & Symphonic, Piano Concerto
MEDIA:	Audio CD
TRACKS:	Paganini: Violin Concerto n. 1: Cadenza, Debussy: Vilon Sonata: Allegro vivo, Debussy: Vilon Sonata: Intermede, Debussy: Vilon Sonata: Finale, Ysaye: Violin Sonata op. 27/6, Milhaud: Concert royal for violin and orchestra op. 373: Vif, Milhaud: Concert royal for violin and orchestra op. 373: Lent, Milhaud: Concert royal for violin and orchestra op. 373: Anime, Jongen: Concerto en re for violin and orchestra: Quieto: Allegro robusto, Jongen: Concerto en re for violin and orchestra: Quasi improvista, Jongen: Concerto en re for violin and orchestra: PReludio: Cadenza:, Brahms: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 15: Maestoso, Brahms: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 15: Adagio, Brahms: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 15: Rondo: Allegro non troppo, Prokofiev: Toccata for piano op. 11, Poot: Piano Concerto: Allegro vivace e con brio, Poot: Piano Concerto: Andante funerale, Poot: Piano Concerto: Allegro scherzando, Liszt: Piano Concerto n. 1, Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 30: Allegro ma non tanto, Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 30: Intermezzo: Adagio, Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 30: Finale: Alla breve, Shostakovich: Violin Concerto n. 1 op. 77: Nocturne, Shostakovich: Violin Concerto n. 1 op. 77: Scherzo, Shostakovich: Violin Concerto n. 1 op. 77: Passacaglia, Shostakovich: Violin Concerto n. 1 op. 77: Burlesque, Ravel: Tzigane for violin and orchestra, Schumann: Fantasie for violin and piano, Rossum: Violin Concerto n. 1, Rachmaninov: Paganini Variations op. 43, Moussorgsky: Pictures Of An Exhibition, Schumann: Carnaval, Beethoven: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 37: Allegro con brio, Beethoven: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 37: Largo, Beethoven: Piano Concerto n. 3 op. 37: Rondo (allegro), Prokofiev: Piano Concerto n. 2 op. 16: Andantino, Prokofiev: Piano Concerto n. 2 op. 16: Scherzo, Prokofiev: Piano Concerto n. 2 op. 16: Intermezzo (allegro moderato), Prokofiev: Piano Concerto n. 2 op. 16: Finale (allegro tempestoso), Chopin: Barcarolle for piano, Bartok: Violin Concerto n. 2: Allegro ma non troppo, Bartok: Violin Concerto n. 2: Andante tranquillo, Bartok: Violin Concerto n. 2: Allegro molto, Brahms: Violin Sonata n. 1 op. 78: Vivace ma non troppo, Brahms: Violin Sonata n. 1 op. 78: Adagio, Brahms: Violin Sonata n. 1 op. 78: Allegro molto moderato, Shostakovich/Tzyganov: four preludes for violin and piano op. 34, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 35: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 35: Andantino semplice, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto n. 1 op. 35: Allegro con fuoco, Brahms: Four Ballades for piano op. 10, Stravinsky: Petrouchka for piano, Sibelius: Violin Concerto op. 47: Allegro moderato, Sibelius: Violin Concerto op. 47: Adagio di molto, Sibelius: Violin Concerto op. 47: Finale (allegro ma non tanto), Simonis: Cantilene for violin and orchestra, Janacek: Violin Sonata: Con Moto, Janacek: Violin Sonata: Ballada, Janacek: Violin Sonata: Allegretto, Janacek: Violin Sonata: Finale, Ysaye: Violin Sonata op. 27/2: Obsession: Prelude (Poco vivace), Ysaye: Violin Sonata op. 27/2: Malinconia (Poco lento), Ysaye: Violin Sonata op. 27/2: Danse des ombres: Sarabande (Lento), Ysaye: Violin Sonata op. 27/2: Les furies (Allegro furioso), Schubert: Piano Sonata op. 120: Allegro moderato, Schubert: Piano Sonata op. 120: Andante, Schubert: Piano Sonata op. 120: Allegro, Devreese: Piano Concerto n. 4: Introduzione con Variazione, Devreese: Piano Concerto n. 4: Finale, Mozart: Piano Sonata K332: Allegro, Mozart: Piano Sonata K332: Adagio, Mozart: Piano Sonata K332: Assai allegro, Rachmaninov: Romance for 6 hands, Beethoven: Piano Sonata op. 110: Moderato cantabile: molto espressivo, Beethoven: Piano Sonata op. 110: Allegro molto, Beethoven: Piano Sonata op. 110: Adagio ma non troppo: Allegro ma non troppo (fuga), Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto: Allegro moderato, Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto: Canzonetta (andante), Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto: Finale (allegro vivacissimo), Chopin: Ballade for piano n. 4, Liszt: Piano Sonata, Verdi: La Traviata: E strano, Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro: Tutto e disposto, Respighi: Negri: Notte, Boesmans: Seasons' Dream, Mahler: Ruckert-Lieder: Ich hab' ein gluhend Messer, Monteverdi: L'Orfeo: Dal mio Permesso amato, Verdi: Macbeth: O figli, Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri: Cruda sorte-Qual chi vuol, Chausson: Le temps des lilas (bouchor)
# OF MEDIA:	12
UPC:	675754377021