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Still Another Box Set Wish List · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  I've done several episodes where I've presented
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  lists of piano box sets that I would like to
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  see produced, as well as lists of box sets that
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  have been long out of print and that I think
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  are ripe for reissue. So far, none of my box
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  set proposals have been taken up by any record
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  company, even though I think my ideas have largely
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  been quite feasible and even practical. I mean,
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  I say most of the ideas because a few of them
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  were admittedly pretty wacko. You'll notice that
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  the 10 items that I am proposing that record
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  companies produce as box sets on this episode
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  that I'm going to talk about do not involve any
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  material that Sony BMG controls. Because Sony
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  BMG seems to be on a box set hiatus, and I don't
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  know what the status of their box set... business
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  happens to be at this moment. But there haven't
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  been any new box sets from Sony BMG in quite
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  some time. I can even tell you one project that
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  was actually produced and pretty much made ready
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  for production, I think, back in 2021, and it
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  is still in limbo. And that's the complete Vladimir
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  Horowitz 1968 television concert recordings with
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  all the performances and all the rehearsal takes,
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  all the warm -ups, every bit of studio banter.
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  I mean, the whole kit and caboodle. And I even
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  got hired to write the booklet notes for that
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  back in the spring of 2021. I even submitted
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  the notes and I got paid for them. This project
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  is still up in the air. I mean, it's crazy. It
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  really should be coming out. So instead of talking
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  about any Sony BMG -controlled material that
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  I would like to see reissued, meaning things
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  from RCA Victor or Columbia Masterworks or CBS
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  Masterworks or whatever labels those are, I'm
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  basically going to rely on Warner Classics and
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  Universal Classics to do my bidding because these
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  companies thankfully have been active in the
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  box set business in the past year and pretty
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  heavily too. And of course, there are various
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  independent firms that are doing good work and
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  maybe they will be receptive to some of the ideas
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  that I'm going to present. So here is my December
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  2025 list of piano box sets that I would like
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  to see produced. And I'm adding these to the
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  20 box sets I've already talked about on past
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  episodes that still haven't been produced. So
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  here's another 10. Number one, why doesn't Warner
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  Classics put all of the recordings that they
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  have in the HMV and the EMI and Erato back catalogs
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  with Gina Bachauer in a box. Just shove it all
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  in a box. Why not? Now, there was a release on
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  APR that had, I think, all of the Gina Bachauer
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  78s. There was also, many years ago, a two -disc
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  reissue. on French EMI's Rarissime series. But
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  I think it's high time that the folks at Warner
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  just put all of their Gina Bachauer material
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  in a box. And that also includes, I think she
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  did just one release for Errato, if I'm not mistaken,
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  which has the second Rachmaninoff concerto. Maybe
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  she did another one, but... Anyway, a complete
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  Warner Recordings edition with Gina Bachauer.
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  Number two. I would love to see a truly complete
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  edition of the Hungarian pianist Tomás Vásáry's
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  recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. There's a
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  lot of wonderful material, and a good amount
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  of these recordings have already come out on
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  CD, such as the Chopin recordings, some of the
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  Liszt things, some of his Brahmses come out on
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  CD. But a complete and systematic Thomas Vassari
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  edition would really be nice. I'd love to see
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  that. Maybe this is something that Australian
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  eloquence could come up with. Number three. Speaking
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  of Australian eloquence, I had written the notes
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  to the eloquence box set containing the complete
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  recordings on Phillips by the Spanish pianist
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  Rafael Orozco. Now, I would like to see all of
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  the recordings that he made for Valois all boxed
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  up. These also came out, I think, on the Alvides
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  and the Naive labels. But that material, basically,
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  I would love to see all of those put all together.
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  And it really should be done because there are
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  some wonderful performances, including a fantastic
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  Albinez Iberia. Number four. Why don't we get
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  an addition with all the recordings that the
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  French pianist Michel d 'Alberto made for the
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  Denon label? Put them all in a box. I think that
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  that could be very possible. There was a complete
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  Schubert cycle for Denon. He did some excellent
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  lists. There was a very nice Schumann concerto.
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  I can't... really think of what else he did for
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  Denon. I'm sure there are other things. But,
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  you know, Warner did a 17 -disc Michel d 'Alberto
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  box set a few years ago. I actually never managed
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  to get a hold of that. But a lot of the Michel
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  d 'Alberto Denon material is in limbo. or it's
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  available under various license agreements. Anyway,
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  just shove all of Michelle Dalberto's Denon recordings
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  into a box, and I'll be happy. Number five. Now,
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  you know how Australian Eloquence did those fantastic
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  Westminster and Deutsche Grammophon piano library
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  box sets last year, gathering together lots of
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  material that... hadn't been on CD before, and
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  I devoted a couple of podcast episodes, in fact,
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  to these box sets. Well, the American MGM label
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  had gotten into classical recording in the 1950s,
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  and there were a good number of excellent piano
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  releases on MGM. from artists such as Beveridge
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  Webster, Menachem Pressler, William Marcellos,
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  and quite a few more. So why not do a substantial
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  or even complete MGM Piano Library edition? The
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  question is if the master tapes exist still or
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  not. I really don't know. If not, there must
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  be some mint condition. vinyl pressings out there.
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  There have been a lot of MGM piano discs uploaded
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  to archive .org, usually from scratchy vinyl
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  copies. But I would encourage Australian eloquence
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  to explore the MGM piano catalog, the recordings
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  from the 1950s. There may have been some from
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  the early 60s. I really don't know. the majority
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  of these were from the 50s. And the sound quality
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  tended to be kind of boxy. So I don't know, maybe
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  they need some remastering or some kind of trickery
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  on that level. But let's see. Number six, number
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  six. Although we have had quite a few reissues
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  of the recordings that Bruce Hungerford made
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  for the Vanguard label, could there be a record
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  company willing to gather all of the Bruce Hungerford
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  Vanguard material in a box set. It's never been
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  done before. We've had all of his Beethoven,
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  or rather most of his Beethoven, boxed up. But
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  basically a complete Bruce Hungerford edition.
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  All the Beethoven, the Brahms disc, the Schubert,
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  the Chopin, I don't know what other composers
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  he recorded. And maybe this box can include some
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  of the things that came out on other labels,
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  either during his lifetime or posthumously following
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  his tragic death in 1977 when he was killed in
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  a car crash. You know what happened? He was killed
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  in a car crash when a drunk driver slammed into
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  his car, killing Hungerford and his mother and
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  other passengers. And the drunk driver survived,
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  by the way. I mean, what a waste. But let's really
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  get a complete Hungerford Vanguard edition together.
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  I would love to see that. Number seven. Now,
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  here's a no -brainer. Let's have Warner Classics
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  bring out a box set with all of the recordings
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  that Rudolf Firkushny made for the Capitol label,
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  as well as for EMI. Now, the solo recordings
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  that were on Capitol all came out individually,
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  I think, in the 1990s. I think most of the Capitol
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  material did come out. And, of course, these
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  went out of print very quickly. But this is a
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  major body of work that deserves a complete and
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  comprehensive treatment. And the solo material
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  contains works of Brahms, Chopin, Schumann, and
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  Beethoven. There was a Debussy and Smetana disc.
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  Also, he recorded concertos by Beethoven and
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  Brahms for EMI. I think those are in capital
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  also. I can't remember. Perhaps so. And there
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  were the two Brahms viola sonatas with William
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  Primrose. Anyway, I think it really does make
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  sense for Warner to box up all of the Rudolf
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  Firkushny material they have. Number eight, the
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  great Portuguese pianist Siqueira Costa. made
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  some really notable recordings in the 1970s for
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  the Superfon label. I think maybe some of these
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  were recorded in the late 60s as well. And these
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  recordings included the complete Chopin etudes,
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  Schumann's Carnival and Waldsenen, excerpts from
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  Iberia by Albanes, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit.
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  I don't think all of these... Cata Costa Superfund
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  recordings would amount to a lot of CDs, maybe
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  just three or perhaps four. And I don't really
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  know what his complete Superfund discography
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  entails. But that said, I would love to see all
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  of these recordings gathered together and reissued
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  under one roof. Number nine. How about a complete
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  edition of all of the recordings that Cyprian
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  Katsaris made for Teldeck? Now, I know he's licensed
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  some of his earlier recordings, some of the things
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  that appeared on EMI, and he licensed them for
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  reissue on his own label. So, I don't know of
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  Warner Classics. still controls the EMI material
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  with Cyprian Katsaris. I don't know what the
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  status of the Teldeck material, has he licensed
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  that or not? I'm not really sure. But I still
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  think that... a complete Teldeck edition of Sippering
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  Katsaris would really be useful because there's
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  so much interesting repertoire. I mean, you have
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  the Beethoven Liszt symphonies, but there's a
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  lot of Schumann and Chopin and Grieg, the Schubert
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  B -flat sonata, there are some Beethoven sonatas,
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  the Eroica variations, there's the Das Lied von
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  der Erd. by Mahler in the piano edition, which
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  is very, very interesting. and lots of other
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  things. Oh, there's a great Brahms second concerto.
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  I think that was with Eliyahu Inbal conducting,
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  and that's a recording that tends not to be spoken
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  about too much when people talk about the great
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  Brahms second concerto recordings, but that one
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  is definitely a keeper. So, a complete Teldeck,
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  Cyprian, Katsaris edition. How about a Warner
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  Classics? And finally, number 10, I would be
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  so happy if somebody or some company or some
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  people or some outfit would gather all of Glenn
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  Gould's complete surviving CBC radio broadcasts
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  and radio documentaries, as well as any private
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  recordings that are in Glenn Gould's private
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  holdings and put them all together. Now, we've
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  had quite a few CBC Glenn Gould reissues on the
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  CBC label, but I know that there's material that
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  exists that still has not come to light. Now,
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  a lot of the Gould CBC broadcasts did come out.
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  Sony Classical, but they didn't turn up in those
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  Sony big box sets devoted to Gould's complete
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  recordings for Columbia Masterworks. So this
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  could really be a good project to get all of
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  the CBC material and then all of the private
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  recordings or broadcasts, you know, just clear
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  all the licenses, just have this big, big Glenn
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  Gould, non -Sony box, you know, all the CBC broadcasts,
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  the concerts, the studio recitals, the live performances,
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  the radio documentaries, any interviews that
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  he did. And if he did some radio shows where
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  he was hosting. That could be very interesting,
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  too. I don't know. Let's see. It's just an idea.
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  So, the $64 ,000 question is, who wrote Swanee
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  River? No, the $64 ,000 question is, will any
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  of these box set ideas turn into reality in the
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  next year? Probably not, but one never knows,
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  do one. This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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  to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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  to piano recordings. I look forward to being
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  with you for our next episode. Take good care.