From Hollywood To The World - The Rediscovered Rec

Jose Iturbi; Amparo Iturbi; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra; Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; Symphon

Once upon a time in the 1940s and 1950s in America, classical music and its stars were a natural part of many big Hollywood movies. This golden age saw the creation of famous musical hits such as Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra or That Midnight Kiss with Mario Lanza, in which a spirited piano virtuoso and conductor always played himself: José Iturbi. Nowadays known only to connoisseurs and aficionados, the native Spaniard was at the time, along with Oscar Levant (An American in Paris), one of the most commercially successful classical artists in Hollywood. When the film A Song to Remember was released in 1945, for example, Iturbi’s recording of a Chopin Polonaise sold 800,000 copies. Shortly thereafter, his recording company, RCA Victor, paid him over $118,000 in semiannual royalties – a record at the time. And Iturbi’s passion wasn’t just for music: he completed 1,400 hours of flying as a pilot, enjoyed riding motorcycles fast, and excelled as an amateur boxer. This edition is a tribute to an era when classical music from films made its journey around the world. It contains all the recordings made by José Iturbi and his sister Amparo Iturbi for RCA Victor from 1933 to 1955, painstakingly restored and remastered from the original records and tapes, including numerous previously unreleased recordings. The 188-page coffee-table book includes a detailed biographical essay by “Ambassador for the American Songbook” Michael Feinstein, extensive documentation with photographs and facsimiles from the José Iturbi Foundation archives, and a complete session and release discography.Set contents:DISC 1: Mozart: Concerto No. 10 for 2 Pianos · Piano Concerto No. 20 (1952)DISC 2:  Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 · Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 · Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 (1952)DISC 3:  Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1950) · Chambers · Gould · Reddick · IturbiDISC 4:  Mozart · Chabrier · Iturbi · Debussy · Milhaud · Nepomuceno · InfanteDISC 5:  Debussy · Liszt · Beethoven · Schumann · Falla · Rachmaninoff · Saint-Saëns · Albéniz · ChopinDISC 6:  Debussy · Schumann · Chopin · López-Chavarri · Iturbi · Granados · Ravel · GuastavinoDISC 7:  Mozart: Concerto No. 10 for 2 Pianos · Piano Concerto No. 20 (1940)DISC 8:  Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 (1941) · Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1938) · Ravel · BachDISC 9:  Mozart: Piano Sonatas Nos. 11 & 12 · ChopinDISC 10:  Albéniz · Granados · Scarlatti · Paradisi · Iturbi · Beethoven · Lazăr · Saint-Saëns · Debussy · Infante · Bach · GouldDISC 11:  Falla · Debussy · Liszt · Chopin · Schumann · Haydn · Paderewski · Beethoven · Ravel · Rachmaninoff · Infante · Tchaikovsky · MussorgskyDISC 12:  Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 “Scottish” · Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”DISC 13:  Liszt · Falla · Palau · Rodrigo · Iturbi · López-Chavarri · Turina · InterviewsDISC 14:  Granados · Turina · Infante · Albéniz · Cuesta · Lecuona · Griffes · Mozart (Amparo Iturbi)DISC 15:  Granados: Goyescas (Amparo Iturbi)DISC 16:  Ravel · Chabrier · Schubert · López-Chavarri · Shostakovich · Fauré · Mozart (Amparo Iturbi)