Pianist Ruth Slenczynska is the last living student of Sergei Rachmaninoff and, at age 97, one of the oldest active recording artists in history. She first rose to fame as a child prodigy, and made recordings for American Decca (including five titles released under license by Deutsche Grammophon) that brought her talents to the attention of an international audience at a time when she was becoming one of the most sought-out piano pedagogues in the world. When Universal’s Eloquence label reissued her entire American Decca catalogue as a box set in 2019, a new generation of music lovers discovered her penetrating, virtuosic artistry.
During the 1970s, Ruth Slenczynska made three recordings for American independent label Musical Heritage Society – Chopin’s Preludes and both sets of Etudes, coupled with other short works by the composer. The present release, including the complete Opus 25 Etudes, returns one of her all-time best-selling recordings to availability after a four decade absence, remastered in HD audio from archival sources.
