Discovered: the 'holy grail' of piano recordings?
Mark Ainley of The Piano Files has just revealed the discovery and imminent release of something utterly extraordinary. A 'live' - i.e., non-commercial/studio - recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff playing his own music has long been considered by some to be the 'holy grail' for historical piano aficionados. Against all the odds, one has finally turned up. It dates from 1940 and on it you can even hear Rachmaninoff singing along and speaking to his colleague Eugene Ormandy while playing. Marston Records will be releasing it in as part of a 3-CD set of the great pianist-composer's non-commercial recordings on 4 September. Above, a taster video compiled by Mark. He says: " I am delighted to share this announcement of the discovery and imminent release of one of the most astounding historical piano recordings that I believe has eve r been discovered - one that I don't think anyone could have imagined existing. "For years there has been conjecture about a ...