In my Winnipeg Free Press this morning (26 Jan 99), an Arts reviewer
drew attention to a new 200-CD release from Philips, "Great Pianists of
the 20th Century".  It would appear that the dominant "news" quality of
the release was its candidacy for the Guinness Book of Records, solely
on its sheer magnitude.

There was no mention within the news item of the original sources of
the recordings, nor of their merit.  I went poking around on the net
and found a reference to the project at:

       http://www.steinway.com/html/concert/philips.html

Within that web site, some interesting data emerged:

 *  Number of pianists: 74

 *  Total amount of music: 15,006 minutes of music (250 hours)

 *  First time on CD - 3,808 minutes of music

 *  First time released on any carrier -  90 minutes

 *  The number of recordings from the early years of this century has
purposely been kept to the minimum since the sound quality generally
proves too much of a hindrance to all but the most devoted of piano
aficionados.

 *  ... some of the older recordings have been newly remastered and
so can be heard in uniquely improved sound.

It would appear that the source of this mammoth effort did not include
piano roll recordings of any kind.  One wonders why Philips, when
undertaking such a huge, significant project would overlook taking
advantage of Wayne Stahnke's leading edge technological initiatives,
and embrace piano roll recordings.

Hmmm... Interesting.  Does this new offering from Philips have anything
to offer other than its sheer magnitude?

Regards,

Terry Smythe                    smythe@mts.net
55 Rowand Avenue                (204) 832-3982
Winnipeg, MB., Canada   R3J 2N6
http://www.mts.net/~smythe