The Praga remasters in this entire series of Richter performances in the 1950s from behind the 'Iron Curtain' sound better than previous incarnations on CD; moderately so in the case of the Transcendental Etudes on this SACD, and significantly better in the case of the SACD with the Schubert sonatas D845 and 850. The quality of performances on this release are just amazing. The 11th etude, 'Harmonies du Soir' is surely one of the greatest examples of pianism in the romantic repertoire, on a par with Dinu Lipatti's interpretations of Chopin's Bacarolle and Ravel's 'Alborado del Gracioso,' [ which I was fortunate enough to buy on a Toshiba-EMI SACD ].
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