The new Decca Ruggiero Ricci sets ...

[Lance]

Regarding, Ruggiero Ricci, I've ordered both the big British Decca set and the 9-CD American Decca set. Amazon was pricey in both cases. Presto more reasonable but a longer wait from FedEx due to the upsurge in packages across the pond. I am always eager to have anything by Ricci. His Sarasate disc on American Decca with pianist Brooks Smith, IMHO, is the finest recording of those pieces I ever heard. Ricci recorded prolifically for British Decca, American Decca, EMI and DG (not so much), Biddulph, Dynamic, Etcetera, Hanssler, Hungaroton, One-Eleven, Rhine, Vox, and other labels contain his work such as Regis, Reference Recordings, Membran/Intense, Price-Less, Scribendum and Unicom. Ricci left us a veritable fortune in his music-making.

[barney]

As I said on the Markevitch thread, I have both these sets Lance. They are still in their cellophane. Life is just too short. But I too admire Ricci, and am looking forward to playing them.

[mikealdren]

Hi both,
as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD.
All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been available before in a mish-mash of overlapping CD sets but the American set is particularly welcome.

[maestrob]

Hi both,
as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD.
All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been available before in a mish-mash of overlapping CD sets but the American set is particularly welcome.

Mike, thanks for mentioning these. I'll be ordering them after the holidays for sure.

As for Legacy of Cremona, are you aware that this edition exists for about $20?

[Lance]

Big surprise today ... FedEx delivered these two marvelous Ricci boxed sets. Superb productions ... outstanding booklet notes with good insights into the violinist himself. Already involved in the American Decca Sarasate disc ... still as stunning and musically exciting as I remembered from the LP!

[mikealdren]

Hi both,
as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD.
All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been available before in a mish-mash of overlapping CD sets but the American set is particularly welcome.

Mike, thanks for mentioning these. I'll be ordering them after the holidays for sure.

As for Legacy of Cremona, are you aware that this edition exists for about $20?

Hi Brian,
the 'Legacy of Cremona' is a sort of follow up to the 'Glory of Cremona' on modern instruments rather than the great classical instruments of the earlier release, also, sadly, Ricci was no longer the fine player he had been. He made quite a few recordings in his old age that don't serve his memory well.

[maestrob]

Hi both,
as I said on the Markevitch thread, I rate his Sarasate just as highly as you do. The Glory of Cremona set has never been widely issued on CD and currently sells at ridiculous prices so is very welcome and the Bravura set is new to CD.
All in all, most of the 'British' Ricci box has been available before in a mish-mash of overlapping CD sets but the American set is particularly welcome.

Mike, thanks for mentioning these. I'll be ordering them after the holidays for sure.

As for Legacy of Cremona, are you aware that this edition exists for about $20?

Hi Brian,
the 'Legacy of Cremona' is a sort of follow up to the 'Glory of Cremona' on modern instruments rather than the great classical instruments of the earlier release, also, sadly, Ricci was no longer the fine player he had been. He made quite a few recordings in his old age that don't serve his memory well.

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Sadly, Isaac Stern had the same problem in his Carnegie performances at the end of his career. Happily, none have been issued on CD that I know of.

[maestrob]

Big surprise today ... FedEx delivered these two marvelous Ricci boxed sets. Superb productions ... outstanding booklet notes with good insights into the violinist himself. Already involved in the American Decca Sarasate disc ... still as stunning and musically exciting as I remembered from the LP!

Wonderful, Lance!

I'm looking forward to hearing much of his playing on Spotify while my order is pending for both sets. Listened to his Sarasate disc yesterday and marveled at his clarity of intonation there. In fact, I'm expecting the DGG box sometime after Christmas. The Decca box is currently out of stock, but I'm sure it will be available in the new year.

[mikealdren]

After listening to my new CDs I am still in awe of Ricci. In my youth, he had made the virtuoso repertoire his own and rehearing these recordings, I can see why. Nowadays when there seem to be a lot of virtuosi who can and do play these works more accurately than he did, Ricci's sheer flair puts him in a class of his own.

[barney]

Yes, it's hard to believe there was ever a more technically gifted generation than today's. The sheer number, as you say, Mike. People like Hilary Hahn, the spiritual heir of Grumiaux inthe Franco-Belgian school, are as good as anyone. Yet I almost always turn, when listening just for pleasure, to previous generations, especially Grumiaux and Oistrakh, my number one and two. It may be that musical character outranked technical virtuosity for that generation - but they weren't deficient in technqie.

In fairness, that might be the extremely common phenomenon of loving what I know, what I grew up with. But like all of us here, I listen with fresh ears and am perfectly willing to be amazed by the beauty etc of modern performers. As I've written elsewhere, I think we are in the middle - or at least the beginning - of a golden age of pianists with the likes of Levit, Trifonov and Grosvenor (to name just three).