I have begun going through this humungous boxed set of Philippe Entremont recordings on Columbia - many, many discs - the sound is much improved from some of the single releases I have. While I know many of the included piano concertos and pieces, there are an equal number I'm not familiar with so this is a real treat. First disc as the Grieg concerto in A minor and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. These recordings are really wonderful. I gather that Mr. Entremont, although hugely popular, was not taken that seriously by classical aficionados, which, of course, is the usual stuff and nonsense. He's wonderful and the playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy is amazing. I gather that Ormandy also was not top tier to some - but since he was the first conductor I was aware of, I gravitated to all his recordings as a teenager. And frankly I've not often heard better. I really only knew the first famous movement of the Grieg, but the other two movements are gorgeous.
