Rachmaninov’s 78rpm discs constitute one of the most important recorded legacies in the history of music. He started recording for Edison in 1919 but thereafter was a Victor artist for the remainder of his life. These acoustical and electrical recordings attained technical and interpretative heights seldom equalled and saw collaborations with conductors Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy in the four piano concertos. Rachmaninov performs a broad selection of his own solo piano works as well as favourites from his repertoire by other composers. Symphony no.3 and The Isle of the Dead can also be heard with The Philadelphia Orchestra under the composer’s baton. The set includes discs not issued at the time and the critically acclaimed remastering has been carried out by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn.

These recordings have all been released before individually on Naxos, and are now collected into a box.

The programme includes Schumann’s Carnaval and Chopin’s Piano Sonata no.2, along with many shorter pieces. Rachmaninov recorded all four of his piano concertos with The Philadelphia Orchestra which was arguably one of the greatest orchestras of the day.

This supersedes the Sony/BMG 10 Discs Complete Recordings box released in 2005. This box also contains full discographic information unlike the Sony/BMG which didn’t.