Rafael Orozco performs the 'Ossia' cadenza from the 1st movement of Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto, live at the Prague Spring Festival.
Zoltan Kocsis plays the end of Liszt's Fantasy on Bellini's Norma.
Ivo Pogolerich plays Chopin's Polonaise Op. 44, live at the Chopin Competition.
Kleiber conducting Weber's Der Freischutz Overture.
"If Art Tatum took up classical music I'd quit the next day." - Vladimir Horowitz
Liszt - Transcendental Etude No.1 (Lazar Berman)
Liszt - Transcendental Etude No.10 (Lazar Berman)
Liszt - Transcendental Etude No.2 (Lazar Berman)
Liszt - Transcendental Etude No.4 (Lazar Berman)
Liszt - Orage (Lazar Berman)
Transcendental performances by Lazar Berman. We must continue efforts to popularize his artistry.
Saint-Saens/Godowsky - The Swan (Cherkassky)
The epitome of colourful passage work.
Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.12 (Alexei Sultanov)
Scriabin - Piano Sonata No.5 (excerpt, Sultanov)
Additional information regarding pianist Alexei Sultanov can be found here.
Chopin - Ballade No.3 (excerpt, Mischa Levitzki)
Thanks to Mark Ainley for suggesting the recording. Additional recordings that Mark enjoys are posted on his website.
Ivo Pogolerich plays Chopin's Nocturne Op 55 No 2.
Chopin - Waltz Op.42 (excerpt, Simon Barere)
Chopin - Waltz Op.42 (excerpt, Josef Hofmann)
Hummel - Piano Concerto Op.85, mvmt 3 (finale, Stephen Hough)
Evgeny Kissin's live performance of Liszt's Wilde Jagd from 1995. The studio recording can be heard here. A website dedictated to Kissin can be found here. The image is 'Demon Twins' by Cristina Otero.
Blumenfeld - Etude for the Left Hand (Marc-Andre Hamelin)
Recordings by Canadian pianist and composer Marc-Andre Hamelin can be purchased from Amazon.
Scarlatti - Sonata K125 (Horowitz)
Scarlatti - Sonata K159 (Gilels)
Bach - Partita No.4, Gigue (Sokolov)
Bach - nun freut euch (Sokolov)
Alkan - Comme le Vent (finale, YT:kaki0genkin)
Alkan - Scherzo Focoso (YT:kaki0genkin)
Rimsky-Korsakov/Vilensky - Flight of the Bumblebee (Konstantin Vilensky)
Chopin/Vilensky - Nocturne Op.9 No.2 (Konstantin Vilensky)
The famed recording of Liszt's Totentanz by Cziffra and Benzi (abridged).
Jascha Heifetz plays Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto no. 1.
Debussy - Clair de Lune (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet)
Debussy - Premiere Arabesque (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet)
Debussy - Reverie (Jean-Efflam Bavouzet)
Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Debussy's Clair de Lune. Pertinent information regarding Jean-Efflam Bavouzet can be found here. We must continue efforts to promote Bavouzet's artistry. Thanks to Rick Robertson for introducing us to such a delightful pianist.
Cziffra's famed 1959 recording of Liszt's transcription of Wagner's Tannhauser.
Mendelssohn - Etude from Op.104 (Rena Kyriakou)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.3, 1st mvmt (excerpt, William Kapell)
The brilliant pianist William Kapell died tragically at the age of 31 in a plane crash. Further information about Kapell can be found here.
Field - Nocturne No.10 (Dennis Matthews)
Liszt - La Campanella (excerpt, Andrei Gavrilov)
Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.4 (Andrei Gavrilov)
Bach - WTC, Prelude No.8 (Andrei Gavrilov)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.3, 1st mvmt (excerpt, Andrei Gavrilov)
Bach - WTC Prelude No.5 (Andrei Gavrilov)
Pianist Andrei Gavrilov's "critical remarks about the Soviet regime led the KGB to seize his passport. Gavrilov was subsequently placed under house arrest, and committed to psychiatric wards. Guards once showed Gavrilov an official order stating that a fatal accident would not be unwelcome. Only via Gorbachev's intervention did the nightmare end in 1984." Pertinent information regarding Andrei Gavrilov can be found here.
Martha Argerich plays the finale of Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto.
Glenn Gould and Yehudi Menuhin play Beethoven's Spring Sonata - 2 mvmt (Yehudi's favorite movement).
Glenn Gould plays Bach's Prelude nos. 3,5,6 from the Well Tempered Clavier, book I.
Ivo Pogolerich plays Scarlatti's Sonata K1. Pay particular attention to the delightful trills.