OH, MY!
There are not enough stars in Amazon's system to do justice to these miraculous performances. The Schumann, though abreviated, is sublime. (The same forces recorded the complete work a few years later.) It is truly a legendary performance. But, for me, the thing here is the Arensky performed with his friend Harold Bauer. Some great performances announce themselves within the first few seconds & you relax & sit back knowing it's going to be a perfect ride. Other great performances don't leave you time. They grab you by the shoulders. You lean forward into the performance wanting to get as close to it as possible. Time stops. Afterwords, you collect your thoughts & exclaim, 'Oh, my'. There's not another recorded performance like this of anything by anyone anywhere.

Treasures From The "Poet of The Piano"
Before he became conductor of the Detroit Symphony, Ossip Gabrilowitsch was known as one of the great Russian-born piano soloists. His technique was legendary, earning him acclaim as the "poet of the piano" by no less a personage than Bruno Walter, Even after taking up the Detroit post (indeed, Orchestra Hall was built as a condition of his accepting the position) he continued to concertize as a soloist.

This disc offers 15 of his piano recordings made during the 1920's, before his illness and untimely death in 1936 at the age of 58. (His wife, Clara Clemens, daughter of Mark Twain, survived into the 1960's). Of historical interest are two of his own short compositions, Melody in E Minor, Op. 8, and Caprice, Op. 3.

However, the real gems in this collection are his justifiably famous duet with Harold Bauer of the Arensky Waltz, and the equally famous performance with the Flonzaley Quartet of the Schumann Quintet for Piano and Strings in E-Flat, Op. 44. The latter is in a slightly abridged version - no doubt to meet the limitations of 78 rpm acoustic rercording technology - but the music is superb. Very highly recommended.