Bavouzet Manchester Camerata Takacs-Nagy - Piano Concertos 5 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Together with the Berlin based Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Mari Kodama and her husband Kent Nagano have now completed the recording of all of Beethoven's piano concertos by jumping, as it were, back in time twice the last element of this recording series that has spanned more than 13 years was Beethoven's concerto Inchnumber noughtInch WoO 4- personally edited by Mari Kodama from the autograph score. The original manuscript of this piano concerto is kept at the State Library in Berlin. This is not a completed score, because there is no orchestration. That said, Beethoven annotated the short score, especially in the first two movements, with indications as to which instrument was to play which part. The orchestra score which is available today was written in the early twentieth century based on those annotations. The only problem is Incharmed with the knowledge we now have acquired about the young Beethoven, we would perform this concerto quite differently in places,Inch explain Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano in unison. They therefore present a very personal adaptation that emerged during rehearsal with the orchestra and at the recording sessions, and which reflects Kodama's and Nagano's individual image of Beethoven. They aim to make audible the exuberant freshness and urgent sense of awakening in the young, almost childlike Beethoven's writing shortly before his artistic powers were to burst forth, the joie de vivre and vital energy in a style that owes something to the playfulness of both Haydn and Mozart. That is Mari Kodama's intention, and she plays it in precisely such a versatile manner.

Benedetti Michelangeli - Piano Concertos [COMPACT DISCS] date 12/09/2014

This is the second installment of the SWR CLASSIC series dedicated to Friedrich Gulda. It contains the piano concertos he recorded for the SWR between 1959 and 1962. Although most famous for his L.v. Beethoven interpretations, Friedrich Gulda also performed the music of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. From the 1950's on he cultivated an interest in jazz, writing several songs and instrumental pieces himself and combining jazz and classical music in his concerts at times. In 1982, Gulda teamed up with jazz pianist Chick Corea, who found himself in between the breakup of Return to Forever and the formation of his Elektric Band. Issued on The Meeting (Philips, 1984), Gulda and Corea communicate in lengthy improvisations mixing jazz (Someday My Prince Will Come and the lesser known Miles Davis song Put Your Foot Out) and classical music (Brahms' Wiegenlied). It was this unorthodox practice that, among other things, earned him the nickname Inchterrorist pianistInch; Friedrich Gulda had a strong dislike of authorities like the Vienna Academy, the L.v. Beethoven Ring of which he was offered in recognition of his performances but which he refused, and even faked his own death in the late 1990's, cementing his status as the enfant terrible among pianists. Nevertheless, Gulda is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding piano players of the 20th century.