On January 15, 1963, sixteen-year-old American pianist André Watts dazzled television audiences with Liszt’s E-flat Concerto on a New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert with Leonard Bernstein, bringing inspiration and hope to a diverse population of music students. When Glenn Gould cancelled a Philharmonic appearance a few weeks later, Watts was called to substitute. His triumphant performances launched an international career.

Long having fulfilled that early promise, Watts remains one of the world’s most successful, consistent and communicative musicians as he enters his seventieth year in 2016. To celebrate this milestone, Sony Classical releases a 12-CD set, André Watts –The Complete Columbia Album Collection. It documents the pianist’s progression from teenage to the youthful maturity revealed in his 1980 Tokyo concerts. In addition to concertos by Chopin, Liszt, Franck, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, Watts’ solo Columbia recordings showcase his natural affinity for a wide gamut of works and styles, as in the elegant virtuosity of the pianist’s Liszt Sonata, his direct and virile Beethoven interpretations, his affectionate Schubert, his delicately nuanced Debussy and his upbeat, idiomatic Gershwin.

Although thrust into the spotlight early, André Watts allowed himself time to develop and ripen, striking a sensible balance between performing and studying. He enrolled at the Peabody Conservatory, where he worked with Leon Fleisher. At 20 he embarked on his first world tour, made his first extensive Japanese tour in 1974, and, in 1976, gave the first complete American live televised solo recital on “Live from Lincoln Center.”

André Watts – The Complete Columbia Album Collection features twelve CDs in a clamshell box with booklet, including notes by Jed Distler, full discographical information and archival photos. The contents and sleeves replicate each album’s original LP packaging. All of the recordings are newly remastered, with 5 LPs released for the first time on CD.

• The first ever collection of Watts’s complete recordings for Columbia Masterworks in a 12-CD original jackets collection

• Great concertos by Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Liszt

• Major solo works by Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, Gershwin and others

• 5 LPs for the first time on CD, mastered in 24 bit / 96 kHz from the original analogue tapes