COMPOSERS: Various
LABELS: Philips: Duo
The long-established Philips Duo series, with Zoltán Kocsis and the San Francisco Symphony under Edo de Waart fit all four Rachmnaniov concertos and the Rhapsody on to two discs: the speeds are consistently fast, but Kocsis’s dazzling pianism makes light of the difficulties, and he always has room to make expressive points (468 921-2).
A batch strong on piano music also includes Mitsuko Uchida’s lovingly detailed accounts, with the English Chamber Orchestra and Jeffrey Tate, of MOZART concertos (468 918-2); and the last five BEETHOVEN sonatas, including a towering Hammerklavier, from the Sixties cycle by Claudio Arrau (468 912-2). Yet another big name from the back-list!.