When Jorge Bolet died in October 1990 the world lost one of its last ‘great Romantics’. Spirituality, a luxuriant tonal palette, a real sense of architecture, breadth, grandeur, all allied to a prodigious technique – these were just some of the qualities that informed his playing. Now, for the first time, Decca collects all the recordings he made for the label, from 1977 to 1990. Released for the first time and included in this set, is his last recording, a selection of Chopin’s Nocturnes and the Berceuse, recorded just seven months before his death.

Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1914, Bolet was the fifth of six children. Showing an early aptitude for the piano, Bolet was able, through private funding as well as pure serendipity (something that informed several key moments in his professional life), to study at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with David Saperton, who also taught Shura Cherkassky, Abbey Simon and the young Julius Katchen. Saperton was the son-in-law of Leopold Godowsky and later, Bolet took lessons with him.

Key among his projects for the label was a sequence of Liszt recordings, described by Gramophone as ‘an indispensable series’. Undeniable is his stamp on the original Liszt works, but have the transcriptions of the Schubert lieder ever taken wing like they do in these interpretations? He also recorded concertos by Grieg, Chopin, Schumann, and Rachmaninov as well as solo works by the last three aforementioned.

Contents:

CD 1
Chopin/Godowsky - Transcriptions

CD 2
Liszt - Two Concert Studies, S145; Three Concert Studies, S144; Six Consolations, S172; Réminiscences de Don Juan — Mozart, S418

CD 3
Brahms - Variations on a theme by Handel, op.24
Reger - Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Telemann, op.134

CD 4
Liszt - Schubert Lieder Transcriptions

CD 5
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody no.12; Liebestraum no.3; Mephisto Waltz no.1; Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses no.7); Rigoletto (Verdi) – Concert Paraphrase; La Campanella

CD 6
Liszt - Sonata in B minor; Valse Impromptu; Liebesträume nos. 1 & 2; Grand Galop Chromatique

CD 7
Liszt - Années de pèlerinage: Italie

CD 8
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto no.3
- London Symphony Orchestra/Ivan Fischer

CD 9
Liszt - Années de pèlerinage: Suisse

CD 10
Liszt - Années de pèlerinage: Venezia e Napoli; Les Jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este; Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude; Ballade no.2

CD 11
Liszt - Totentanz; Malédiction; Hungarian Fantasia
- London Symphony Orchestra/Ivan Fischer
Schubert/Liszt - Wanderer Fantasie
- London Philharmonic Orchestra/Georg Solti

CD 12
Liszt - Transcendental Studies, S139

CD 13
Piano Encores: Mendelssohn, Chopin, Debussy, Schubert/Godowsky, Albéniz/Godowsky, Godowsky, R. Strauss/Godowsky, Bizet/Godowsky, Moszkowski, Schlözer

CD 14
Grieg - Piano Concerto
Schumann - Piano Concerto
- RSO Berlin/Riccardo Chailly

CD 15
Schumann - Carnaval, op.9; Fantasie in C major, op.17

CD 16
Rachmaninov - Variations on a Theme of Chopin, op.22; Preludes, opp. 3/2, 32/7, 32/12, 23/5, 23/10; Mélodie, op.3 no.3
Kreisler/Rachmaninov - Liebesleid, Liebesfreud

CD 17
Franck - Symphony in D minor; Variations symphoniques
- Concertgebouworkest/Riccardo Chailly

CD 18
Chopin - Ballades nos. 1-4; Barcarolle, op.60; Fantasie, op.49

CD 19
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto no.2
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto no.1
- Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Charles Dutoit

CD 20
Chopin - 24 Préludes, op.28; Nocturnes, opp. 27/1, 55/1, 27/2, 62/2

CD 21
Franck - Prélude, Choral et Fugue; Prélude, Aria et Final

CD 22
Debussy - Préludes from Books I & II

CD 23
Schubert - Piano Sonata in A major, D959; Piano Sonata in A minor, D784

CD 24
Mendelssohn - Prelude & Fugue, op.35/1
Franck - Prélude, Choral et Fugue
Liszt - Réminiscences de Norma, S394

CD 25
Chopin - Piano Concertos nos. 1 & 2
- Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Charles Dutoit

CD 26
Chopin - Nocturnes, opp. 9/1, 9/3, 15/1, 32/1, 32/2, 55/2, 72/1; Berceuse