The Making Of A Musician

Michel Dalberto, born and trained in Paris, is a pianist of great distinction and can look back on an international career of more than 40 years. This box assembles his entire Warner Classics catalogue, many of them being unavailable for a while, and also includes a previously unreleased recording, made in 1986, of Liszt’s Douze études d’exécution transcendante (Transcendental Studies). The 17 CDs in this boxset contain Michel Dalberto’s entire Warner Classics catalogue (originally recorded for Erato, EMI and Virgin Classics). The composers represented include Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Bach, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Chausson, Duparc and Satie. The recordings were made between 1978 and 2010. The set features the first-ever release of Dalberto’s recording of Liszt’s Douze études d’exécution transcendante (Transcendental Studies). It was made in 1986. At the time, Michel Dalberto did not authorise its release, but he has now approved it. In his personal note to accompany this set, he makes some illuminating observations: “Now I wonder: was I too severe with myself at that time, or have I become too 'gentle' today? … Typically during the recording process, one focuses on the technical realization to make it as perfect as possible. But after a certain time (in my case it was 32 years later!), one listens to the music itself. Perhaps this is the ultimate take-out from ‘The Making of a Musician’: forget the notes and focus on the music.”