05/02/2020
Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting...almost 2 months!
Most of you probably know that Peter Serkin passed away on Saturday, February 1st. The combined catalogs that make up The Bach Guild actually form a fine representation of his diverse and unique talents.
We did announce a Peter Serkin Complete Vanguard and ProArte Recordings box for The Bach Guild and we are proceeding with that release. It should be available in mid-March 2020. With the release of Peter Serkin's Chopin recital as part of the Big Chopin Box, The Bach Guild had already issued all of his Vanguard and almost all of his ProArte releases, but we have never put them together in a single set. The unreleased material included on this upcoming release will be Serkin's ProArte recording of 2 of Mozart solo piano sonatas.
We've put links below if you are curious about the Bach Guild reissues of his performances - his recordings for the Vanguard label are with the Marlboro alumni and were recorded in the early 1960s, and were his first recordings of any type. He made solo recordings at 18, but these recordings were made when Serkin was 16, and his father signed his original Vanguard contract.
Peter Serkin's ProArte recordings cover a wider range of solo and concerto repertoire. At ProArte he recorded many of the warhorse works that most pianists record - with his unique touches. For example, he might have the longest recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and his most unique. It came to our attention that his explanatory notes from this recording were posted on an old page of ours - we'll get them redone and reposted at our website and this page as well. His Beethoven and Schubert ProArte recordings were made on the Graf fortepiano owned by The Schubert Club. The Beethoven was well-known and indicative of his approach and talent - although he admitted to the Musical Concepts reissue producers in late 2008 that he was in a constant race against time that dictated his remarkably fast tempos for the recording of the Hammerklavier Sonata - the Schubert Club's Graf fortepiano was falling apart with each take and he was rushing through just to complete the recording before the old instrument became a pile of sticks.
Serkin also recorded the 2 Brahms piano concertos for ProArte, with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, as well as Mozart's "Coronation" Concerto for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Big Piano Box - Bach's Goldberg Variations & Italian Concerto; Schubert works for solo piano, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-piano-box/
Big Chopin Box - his complete ProArte Chopin recital
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-chopin-box/
Big Piano Concertos Box - the 2 Brahms piano concertos; Mozart "Coronation" Concerto No. 26, K. 595
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-piano-concertos-box/
Big Mozart Box - the Mozart piano quartets
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-mozart-box/
Big Dvorak Box - the Dvorak piano quartet
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-dvorak-box/
Big Schubert Box - the Schubert sonatinas, Sonata for Violin and Piano and Rondeau Brilliante
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-schubert-box/
Big Chamber Music Box, Volume 1 - Schubert "Trout" Quintet and repeat of Schubert Violin and Piano Sonata
http://thebachguild.net/product-page/big-chamber-music-box-volume-one/
BIG CHAMBER MUSIC BOX 7+ HOURS OF MUSIC TRACK LISTING Antonín Dvořák: Cypresses, B.152 (arr. from Cypresses song cycle, B.11) Cleveland Quartet 1. I. Moderato (I know that on my love to thee) 2. II. Allegro ma non troppo (In many a heart is death) 3. III. Andante con moto (In the sweet power of y...
