Ruggiero Ricci Complete Decca Recordings (20CD)

Praised for his ‘natural elegance’ (Gramophone), ‘finesse and astute interpretative insight’ (American Record Guide), ‘faultlessly brilliant technique’ and ‘astonishingly assured combination of virtuosity and poetic sensibility’ (High Fidelity), RUGGIERO RICCI made recordings for Decca from 1950 to 1974. This tribute to the fiendish fingers and sublime artistry of a true virtuoso collects together his complete recordings for the British label – concertos, solo violin works, encore pieces and sonatas, including a previously unpublished set of the Brahms Violin Sonatas with Julius Katchen recorded in 1954. By way of bonus, the set also includes excerpts from the Fistoulari recording of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake where Ricci plays the violin solos, as well as Ansermet’s complete performances of the composer’s Suites Nos. 3 and 4, both of whose obbligato violin parts are performed by the violinist.

An Original Jackets Limited Edition.

TRACK LIST

CD 1
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Sir Adrian Boult · Sir Malcolm Sargent

CD 2
PAGANINI Violin Concerto Nos. 1 & 2
RAVEL Tzigane
Anthony Collins · Ernest Ansermet

CD 3
SIBELIUS Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Sérénade mélancolique; Scherzo
KHACHATURIAN Violin Concerto
Oivin Fjeldstad ∙ Anatole Fistoulari

CD 4
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1
Piero Gamba

CD 5
PROKOFIEV Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Ernest Ansermet

CD 6
LALO Symphone espagnole
SARASATE Carmen Fantaisie; Zigeunerweisen
SAINT-SAËNS Havanaise; Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso
Ernest Ansermet ∙ Piero Gamba

CD 7
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
Sir Malcolm Sargent

CD 8
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto; Swan Lake (excerpts)
Jean Fournet · Anatole Fistoulari

CD 9
TCHAIKOVSKY Suites Nos. 3 & 4
Ernest Ansermet

CD 10
PAGANINI Caprices (1950 Recording)

CD 11
PAGANINI Caprices (1959 Recording)

CD 12
WORKS FOR SOLO VIOLIN
Bartók ∙ Stravinsky · Prokofiev ∙ Hindemith

CD 13
J.S. BACH Sonata No. 1; Partita No. 2
WEBER Six Sonates Progressives
Carlo Bussotti

CD 14
R. STRAUSS Violin Sonata
PROKOFIEV Violin Sonata No. 2
Carlo Bussotti

CD 15
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonatas Nos. 7 & 10
Friedrich Gulda

CD 16
BRAHMS Violin Sonatas Nos. 1–3 (1954 Recording)
Julius Katchen
PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED

CD 17
BRAHMS Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 (1957 Recording)
Julius Katchen

CD 18
SARASATE Danzas Españolas
Louis Persinger

CD 19
A PAGANINI RECITAL
Louis Persinger

CD 20
VIRTUOSO SHOWPIECES
Ernest Lush

RUGGIERO RICCI, violin