Alfred Brendel / Abbado / Haitink / Marriner / +
Brendel: Complete Philips Recordings (Ltd. Edt.)

This stupendous collection of Brendel's greatest recordings is - although not cheap, nevertheless - a bargain, with 114 discs that are not just reproductions of original LPs, but intelligently put together to maximise amount of related music on each disc. This collection has clearly been lovingly assembled with Brendel's blessing, and the track list indicates his own favourite interpretations. Of course, an artist's taste changes over the years, and they tend to favour what they last did - but with the octogenarian Brendel, often his last version is exceedingly good. As one of their star artists, Philips made sure Brendel had the best of treatment, and it shows throughout this magnificent collection in sound quality. The collection is well served by a comprehensive booklet that has indices for discs, composers and recordings by date. This helps the connoisseur in comparing Brendel's different versions of the same piece - here we have his second and third interpretations of Beethoven's piano sonatas and piano concertos, and more than one version of many Mozart, Schubert and Liszt pieces.