"1958 was a red-letter year for pianists. The first International Tchaikovsky Competition took place in Moscow and was won, unanimously and amid unprecedented publicity, by Van Cliburn of Texas. With characteristic bravado, jury member Sviatoslav Richter, ignoring rules and regulations, gave a hundred marks to Cliburn and zero to his rivals, baldly asserting, 'he's a pianist, the others are not'." - Gramophone, 2004
This week we present piano concertos by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov, recorded by Van Cliburn with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the early 1960s under Walter Hendl and Fritz Reiner, both sounding fresh and revitalised after Pristine's stereo XR remastering.
We also celebrate the 133rd birthday this week of Prokofiev, with a special discount on all of his music - as composer, pianist and conductor - from the Pristine catalogue.