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Yes, like Elgar & VW Delius was no piano virtuoso and as well as removing some music he approved of the virtuoso Chris mentions (whose name escapes me - but no one famous) rewriting the piano part to make it more "pianistic" in the typical late 19th century virtuoso style. Moiseiwitsch seems to have liked it but as Chris says the BBC MM Proms recording shows its age  (there's also a commercial version from 78s on Testament which also sounds rather dim).

Piers Lane has recorded the original which (as a Delius enthusiast) I found a disappointment on the Hyperion series and also the revised version on EMI Eminence. I do though find him just pipped at the post by Kars, a young Leeds prize winner (1968?) who made a few recordings for Decca before giving up his career to become a monk (Decca 470 190 2 which also includes Tasmin Little's first recording of the violin concerto).

The BBC MM 1999 recording of A Poem of Life and Love is the work's first performance as it was reworked into a Song of Summer when Fenby arrived to assist Delius.

PS Am now listening to 90 year old John Amis reminiscing on Radio 3 about a life in music with excerpts from his many interviews with the famous names of the past (including Fenby on working with Delius); some interesting (and amusing) anecdotes...

There is also the recording of Clifford Curzon under the baton of Haitink, om BBC Legends. It might be worthy alternative.

We should not neglect (or even forget) the fine Chamber Music by Delius: 3 Violin Sonatas plus an Op. Posth., a very interesting one-movement Cello Sonata, a "unique" String Quartet and some interesting music for Viola and Piano. There are few but quite reliable recordings of them.

Parla

Delian's should look out the excellent 7 CD series from Unicorn Kanchana with many works conducted (very well) by Fenby who accompanies Ralph Holmes and Lloyd Webber in excellent performances of violin and 'cello chamber works, playing Delius's piano bequeathed to him. Also Tasmin Little (a great Delius enthusiast) & Piers Lane are equally fine in the complete violin/piano works (Conifer originally, now I think reissued elsewhere).

Fascinated here by the mention of Jean-Rodolphe Kars, because I remember borrowing from the Public Library some beautiful unborrowed and unscratched Decca LPs by him in the early seventies.  The Delius was coupled with the Debussy piano and orchestra Fantaisie, a complete Debussy preludes, a fascinating coupling of Liszt and Messiaen, and Schubert "Wanderer" and D.946 Klavierstücke.  I especially remember the last one because it was the first time I had heard the Wanderer...aged seventeen, it made quite an impression on me!  Yes,I found out quite recently he had taken Holy Orders...apparently Stephen Hough seriously thought about doing the same ( well, after all Liszt was an Abbé! ).  Anyway, I did recently buy from Australia an Australian Eloquence reissue of Kars' Liszt recordings, coupled with Pascal Rogé's forgotten Liszt recordings for Decca, including a début B Minor Sonata made when he was eighteen.  Totally raw, often dangerously fast ...and utterly thrilling.  In the same package was Rogé's absolutely superlative 1970s account of the Bartok piano concertos with LSO/Weller...their absence from the CD era catalogue for thirty years was an absolute crime.

Maria Tipo might be "buried" in our memory, since she didn't manage to make so many recordings (as so many other very good soloists), but what can we say about the incredible talent of Mihaela Ursuleasa, the Romanian very gifted pianist, who was buried (literally) at her 33 years. A truly great pianist, who managed to record only two CDs on Berlin Classics : the Piano Forte (in 2009) and the Romanian Rhapsody (in 2011). A very early loss in the Classical Music world!

On the other side of the spectrum, Lina Lalandi, a fine harpsichordist and promoter of Classical Music as well as creator of the English Bach Festival, passed away at the age of 91. Some of us will cherish her in our memory.

Parla

Very simply and briefly:

I got the latest, just now released, new Deluxe Limited Edition of the Solti's "Ring", in a most spectacular, extremely heavy (7,5 kg) and meticulously produced box (in the size of the old LP ones) from Decca. It contains anything related to the recording and one may wish for (even if he/she didn't expect it).

As they claim, the actual 14CDs of the Ring have been once more "reworked" to a more "realistic" listening experience. From the little I managed to listen it seems to be the case (of course, I have never listened to the SACD Esoteric recording!).

For me, it's worth every penny of its expensive price.

Parla

Just got the new recording of Luigi Nono's La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura by The Schreck Ensemble.  I remember the DG recording by Nono with Gidon Kremer. 

This new recording is masterly performed and recorded on SACD, I believe the first in surround multi-channels, bringing us closer to Nono's description of the work as a "madrigal for several travellers".

CD2 is Nuctemeron by Hans van Eck.  "Music theatre in 12 scenes based on a text by Apollonius of Tyana".

This release is on subrosa

This is quite a brilliant "soundscape" of a journey.  Here's a link to a short video:  http://flickr.com/gp/joto25/o648z1