"The first time that Richter performed Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues was when he played four pairs of them in Warsaw on November 24, 1954: nos. 4, 7, 12 and 17. Those concert recordings can be heard in this set as bonus tracks on CD 1. Between 1951 and 1963, Richter made recordings of twelve: nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, all of which are offered as part of this set. Four more Preludes and Fugues nos. 19, 20, 21 and 22 were not recorded by Richter until 1974 – and so are not included here. When he planned his concerts, Sviatoslav Richter often grouped the pieces into little suites, where he could present them according to a particular key-sequence illustrating his subjective insights as an exponent of the works. Bonus tracks recorded in Warsaw (live, November 24, 1954, CD1) or Paris (studio, July 1963, CD3), document the artist’s interpretation in such authentic Richter suites. However, Dmitri Shostakovich himself recorded a total of 18 Preludes and Fugues between 1951 and 1956. The four Moscow sessions were held on December 6, 1951 (Preludes and Fugues nos. 1, 3, 5, 16, 23), on February 5, 1952 (Preludes and Fugues nos. 2, 4, 12, 13, 20 and 24), on February 14, 1952 (Preludes and Fugues nos. 6, 7, 8, 14 and 22) and in 1956 (Preludes and Fugues nos. 17 and 18). CDs 4 and 5 feature all 18 of these historic recordings for the first time."