The outstanding Polish composer Karol Szymanowski dubbed Neuhaus 'Heinrich the Great'. A pianist, educator, author of books, essays and reviews, and brilliant connoisseur of poetry, painting and philosophy, he was fluent in six languages and did not fit in the narrow frames of a mere musical performer. Although German and Polish blood ran in his veins, he was a true vessel of Russian culture. Neuhaus, studied in Berlin and Vienna with Leopold Godowsky and Karl Heinrich Barth, before graduating from the Petrograd Conservatory, and at a young age playing with the orchestra conducted by Richard Strauss, much to the composer’s admiration. Neuhaus’s concert performances attracted sophisticated connoisseurs who had heard Rachmaninoff and Horowitz. Although Neuhaus thought out every interpretation of the works he played, his piano sounded impulsive, as though the music was born straight from under the pianist’s fingers. Neuhaus, who had a talent for composition and rejected a conducting career when he was young, possessed an ability to get the feel of music so that his performances seemed to come from the composers themselves. One of the most prominent piano teachers of the 20th century, Heinrich Neuhaus enjoyed unshakeable authority amongst students and fellow teachers alike. Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Anatoly Vedernikov, Yakov Zak, Alexei Lubimov, Vladimir Krainev, Vera Gornostayeva, Igor Nikonovich, Eliso Virsaladze, Alexei Nasedkin, Tikhon Khrennikov and Evgeny Svetlanov are just a few from Neuhaus’s class. Most of his recordings date back to the late 1940s and early 1950s. This anniversary set is dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Heinrich Neuhaus includes well known, 'canonical' works, and previously un-released recordings of Shostakovich’s preludes, Beethoven’s piano quartet (featuring members of The Beethoven Quartet) and Anton Arensky’s suite Silhouettes for piano four hands recorded together with the son and prominent pianist Stanislav Neuhaus.