In 1998 an article appeared in The Times claiming the non-existence of talent. Just as the eminent psychologist R.D. Laing explained that ‘schizophrenia’ was a fabricated term for an analysable condition, so the Times writer stressed that talent was a fancy description for hard work. For him the success of a musical star – he took the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter as his example – had more to do with perspiration than inspiration.

The contents of the EMI box are too numerous to list but all the sonatas, variations, and most short pieces are here: absent is the London Sketchbook, which is trite juvenalia.

An expert in the delicate art of miniature, Walter Gieseking excelled in short evocative pieces in which his technical mastery and unique sensitivity worked wonders. The numerous albums of Lyric Pieces by Edvard Grieg were a constant source of inspiration for him: he recorded some selections on many occasions, and added excerpts to his concert programs with the same enthusiasm. This album includes the complete set recorded at the very end of his life, coupled with some earlier renditions from the 1948 sessions.

Here is the first volume of Walter Gieseking’s legendary complete Debussy recordings from 1953-1954. They were the first complete cycle ever put on record and display an incredible variety and delicacy.

Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a German pianist and composer.

Walter Gieseking’s Bach interpretations have long been celebrated and are still praised as being modern and contemporary. His legendary 1950 broadcasts, later released on the Heliodor label, included many of Bach’s important works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Partitas and Inventions. For the first time, Deutsche Grammophon presents all these recordings, newly remastered, in one original jackets collection. A 7-CD original-jackets collection, newly remastered presenting all of Walter Gieseking’s 1950 Bach broadcasts for Radio Saarbrücken.