Giovanni Doria Miglietta - Earl Wild: The Complete Transcriptions & Original Piano Works, Vol. 2 (2016)

The second instalment of the complete Piano Works by Earl Wild! Earl Wild (1915-2010) was without doubt one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. His immense repertoire, his staggering virtuosity, his warmth and his charm deserve him the epithet legendary. Wild was a great improviser as well, and he frequently played his own fantasies in his concerts. Fortunately he wrote these wonderful pieces down, and his creative legacy contains a wealth of transcriptions, fantasies and paraphrases, as well as original piano works. This CD features the complete recording of Wilds famous transcriptions of Rachmaninoff songs. Rachmaninoff was of course one of the greatest pianists ever, and the piano writing for his songs is virtuoso and substantial, a severe challenge for the performer. In Wilds transcriptions the voice melody melts into the accompaniment, creating the most wonderful, lush and sumptuous pianism ever written! The previous issue in this series by Italian pianist Giovanni Doria-Miglietta (Piano Classics PCL0069) received excellent reviews: extremely well played..possibly my favourite piano disc of 2014.