Contents:
Xaver Scharwenka:
Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.32*
I. Allegro patetico

II. Scherzo: Allegro assai

III. Allegro non tanto

Mily Balakirev:
Reminiscences of Glinka’s opera, “A Life for the Czar” (fantasy for piano)

Ignace Jan Paderewski:
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.17**
I. Allegro

II. Romanza

III. Allegro molto vivace

Artists:
Earl Wild piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra*
Erich Leinsdorf conductor*
London Symphony Orchestra**
Arthur Fiedler conductor**

Recorded Date:
Recorded in 1969*, 1970**
piano: Baldwin*, Steinway**
Originally released in 1969 by RCA/BMG
Producer:
Michael Rolland Davis
Engineer:
Ed Thompson
Piano Technician:
It may pass for common knowledge that Earl Wild is among the most brilliant pianists of our time. He was once compared to a perfectly tuned Ferrari and here in these concertos he operates at maximum voltage with spine-tingling wit and precision. The notes stream and cascade from his fingers like diamonds; you may well be listening to one of the most infallible of all keyboard mechanisms. Even in the Balakirev Fantasy for Solo Piano, the performance is of an awe-inspiring verve and perfection. Wild’s larger-than-life brilliance (greatly admired by Horowitz among others) is of the sort dreamed of rather than achieved by his younger colleagues. All recorded rivals are chased into the shadows.

Bryce Morrison, TGramophone, July 1996