Decca Classics releases Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca on April 2, 2013, a limited edition box-set comprised of 50 CDs to celebrate the labels remarkable 50-year recording partnership with Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca - the Original Jacket Collection includes many key recordings since Ashkenazys recording debut for the label in March 1963.
Decca Classics new release showcases a rich and varied repertoire, with Ashkenazys now-legendary debut recording of Rachmaninovs Piano Concerto No.3 featuring on the first of the 50 CDs ( with the LSO under the baton of Anatole Fistoulari).
The collection includes Ashkenazy collaborating with some of classical musics greatest conductors, such as Solti, Kondrashin, Maazel, Previn, Barenboim, Haitink and Mehta; accompanying great singers and instrumentalists such as Perlman, Harrell and Soderstrom; as virtuoso pianist in a wide range of solo repertoire; and as an internationally-renowned conductor, particularly of Russian and Nordic repertoire.
Paul Moseley, Managing Director for Decca Classics says: This is an incredibly exciting release for Decca and a fitting way to celebrate one of our longest-serving and best-selling artists. It is testament to Ashkenazys great talents as a pianist and conductor that, throughout the duration of half a century, his recordings have remained among the top choices and recommendations for audiences and critics alike.
The limited-edition Ashkenazy: 50 Years on Decca box-set is beautifully packaged with original LP jackets in the labels now-familiar cube box with hinged lid, and also includes booklet notes in English and Japanese, a complete discography of Ashkenazys recordings on Decca, a composer index, and a unique article from his long-time producer Andrew Cornall on Ashkenazy in the studio, making this a collectors essential.
Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to prominence on the world stage in the 1955 Chopin Competition in Warsaw and has since built a career as one of the most revered and renowned pianists of our times. Since the 1980s conducting has formed the largest part of Ashkenazys activities, with Music Directorships at many orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Czech Philharmonic, NHK Symphony and currently the European Union Youth Orchestra and Sydney Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the Philharmonia and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, as well as strong links with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra.