Vinyl Revival: Idil Biret’s Historic Classical Recordings Return to LP Format
Fashion is a cycle. Jacket lengths change, lapels become thinner, thicker; two buttons are used, then three buttons come back into fashion. The same applies to ties, which stay thick for three to five years, then become thinner. Now, wide-leg trousers are back and unisex too.
Fashion also affects music listening habits. Those who listen to digital music over the internet use their phones or computers, but for those who want to listen to music at home, various devices and methods are available. “muje text left pe or images right pe chiye code ko set kar k do or kuch change nahi karna”
We used to listen to 45 or 33 records; then the tape recorder became widespread. The LP, which entered music lovers’ lives from the late 1940s onward and was replaced by the CD after the mid1980s, became fashionable again when the sound quality of analog recordings was understood. Those who had long since discarded their old record players are buying new ones.
The monumental pianist Idil Biret (b. 1941), the Republic of Turkey’s State Artist and record holder in our country’s classical music recording and broadcasting field, has decided to present her extensive repertoire and archive to music lovers as LPs on vinyl.
The IBA label is releasing a commemorative LP edition of Liszt’s piano adaptation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, first recorded for EMI in 1986, in 2024, the 200th anniversary of its first performance. Additionally, Idil Biret’s 2008 recording of the Fantasy for Piano, Orchestra, and Chorus, considered a precursor to the Ninth Symphony, with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit, is included in this two-LP set.
This double set has already reached shelves in Europe, Asia, and Turkey. Biret’s LP releases will not end there. The release schedule for 2025 is ready
A particularly interesting LP with collectible value will be available in the first half of 2025: Idil Biret’s first childhood recordings (Paris Recordings 1949-1953-1959).
When she first went to Paris as a “Wonder Child” at age seven, she immediately attracted attention. Radio France interviewed her in the studio at the end of 1949 and recorded some of her performances. This recording holds a special place in my personal story, as I prepared these as a CD for the Inönü Foundation in 1998 on the 25th death anniversary of our second President Ismet Inönü. This was the first of my forty-one CD productions.
The LP, scheduled for 2025 release, will include these recordings along with selections from Biret’s subsequent recordings made at Radio France after she performed Mozart’s concerto for two pianos with Wilhelm Kempff before an audience of 2,700 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1953. The set will also include selections from Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces, which were included on Biret’s first professional LP, recorded in 1959.
J.S. Bach solo keyboard works will be released as a two-LP set. Bach works recorded in concerts given by Idil Biret in various periods—1980 USA Maryland, 1995 Paris, 2011 Istanbul Aya Irini, 2015 Istanbul Süreyya Opera House—will be included in this LP set.
After Bach comes Chopin. The recordings of the 200th anniversary concerts—Idil Biret’s 1990 Istanbul Hagia Irene, 1995 Warsaw Chopin Award Ceremony, and 2010 Lublin Chopin concert recordings with conductor Antoni Wit—will comprise a two-LP set.
Then comes Mozart. Mozart solo and concerto recordings will also be prepared as a two-LP set, including ten concertos, two sonatas, and a fantasy.
Additionally, recordings of Bach’s foundational works titled “Well-Tempered Clavier” and “48 Preludes and Fugues” will be released as a four-CD album.
Although Idil Biret has not performed on stage due to illness, she says “I am here” by expanding presentations from her recording range.
