To mark the 75th birthday of Pascal Rogé, Decca Classics releases The Complete Decca Recordings, a comprehensive 43-CD box set documenting his recorded legacy for the label.

Pascal Rogé: The Complete Decca Recordings brings together his recordings for the label made between the late 1960s and the 1980s. Rogé was signed by Decca in 1969 at the age of 18, on the recommendation of his teacher Julius Katchen, and went on to become one of the label’s defining pianists of the period.

As an exclusive Decca artist during the 1970s and 80s, Rogé documented the French piano repertoire in depth, recording interpretations of Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc and Satie that have long been regarded as benchmarks. The 43-CD box set spans solo piano music, concertos, chamber works and song, and also includes repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns and Fauré, presented in original jackets.

Many of these recordings have been unavailable in physical form for several years. For collectors, the set also includes previously unpublished material, among them Brahms’s Second Piano Sonata, left unreleased at the time for want of a suitable coupling, a selection of preludes by Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu, and a Mozart concerto recording conducted by Raymond Leppard, released for the first time on Decca.

The box set is accompanied by a newly commissioned essay by piano specialist Jeremy Nicholas, incorporating Rogé’s own recollections of the background to these recordings and his early introduction to Decca.

Rogé’s approach to sound and colour remains central to his playing. “I feel like a painter when I play. I see colours when I play and I try to add different ones. I use a lot of imagination: I will see nature, temperature, the wind, the moon. I need, always, to put an image behind the sound.”

Contents:

CDs 1-2:
Bartók: Piano Concertos nos. 1–3; Rhapsody.
Franck: Variations symphoniques

CD 3:
Beethoven: Piano Quintet
Spohr: Septet

CDs 4–6:
Brahms: Four Ballades, op.10; Handel Variations, op.24; Two Rhapsodies, op.79; Fantasias, op.116; Piano Sonata no.2; Violin Sonatas nos. 1–3; Scherzo from “F-A-E” Sonata

CD 7:
Chausson: Concert
Franck: Violin Sonata

CDs 8–12:
Debussy: Piano music

CDs 13-16:
Fauré: Piano works; Violin Sonatas nos. 1 & 2; Berceuse, op.16; Romance in B flat, op.28; Andante in B flat, op.75; Morceau de lecture; Piano Quartets nos. 1 & 2; Piano Quintets nos. 1 & 2

CD 17:
Franck: Variations symphoniques; Cello Sonata (after Violin Sonata); Piano Quintet 

CD 18:
Liszt: Piano Sonata; Mazeppa; Vallée d'Obermann; Liebestraum, S541/3.
Bonus:
Giordano: Fedora (Act 2): Se innocente sei davvero, crederà

CD 19:
Liszt: Années de pèlerinage: Italie, S161

CD 20:
Mozart: Piano Concertos nos. 9 & 25; Rondo, K386; Six Minuets K1-5, K9a

CD 21:
Poulenc: Piano Concerto; Concerto for 2 Pianos; Concert champêtre

CD 22:
Poulenc: Aubade; Suite française; Le Bal masqué; Rapsodie nègre

CDs 23–25:
Poulenc: Piano works

CD 26:
Poulenc: Music for 2 pianos/4 hands; Violin Sonata

CD 27:
Poulenc: Sextet, Trio, Oboe Sonata, Clarinet Sonata, Flute Sonata

CDs 28–31:
Poulenc: Mélodies

CD 32:
Ravel: Piano Concertos
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals

CDs 33–35:
Ravel: Piano music

CD 36:
Ravel: Violin Sonata (1897); Violin Sonata; Tzigane; Berceuse; Kaddisch; Pièce en forme de habanera

CDs 37–38:
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1–5

CDs 39–42:
Satie: Piano Music
Yoshimatsu: 7 Pleiades Dances

CD 43:
French Chamber Music – Saint-Saëns, d’Indy, Tansman, Françaix, Roussel, Poulenc, Milhaud