Yuan Sheng - Piano Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

While we associate Tchaikovsky with music of virtuoso power and difficulty, sweeping up audiences with the fire of the Violin Concerto and First Piano Concerto, he also applied himself to music for the ever-growing market of amateur music-makers during his lifetime. Like many other great composers, he knew how to write for musicians of moderate ability without compromising or simplifying the individuality of his voice as a composer. Also like many great composers, regularly finding himself in grim financial prospects, he tapped into a reliable source of income by supplying publishers who had a seemingly limitless market for music composed with amateur musicians in mind, especially by the acknowledged masters of their day. Both of the cycles recorded here by Yuan Sheng were produced for this market, comprising short pieces, most of them quite simple on the page, but thoroughly imbued with quintessentially Tchaikovskian qualities. As part of his Piano Classics discography, Yuan Sheng recorded The Seasons - Tchaikovsky's best known solo piano cycle - in 2017. The album was widely welcomed for it's serious approach to music which is too often treated trivially. Likewise, he invests these cycles with an authentic delicacy of touch and gravity of expression - in Tchaikovsky, tears are never very far away. Album Tracks 1. Album for the Young, Op. 39 2. 12 Pieces for Piano of Medium Difficulty, Op. 40

The second album in Yuan Sheng's complete survey of Bach's keyboard works bring together two major masterpieces, the much loved Italian Concerto and the substantial French overture, one of the most monumental and deeply searching Suites by Bach, in the tragic key of B minor. As a complement Sheng presents the 4 Duets and the delightful Aria and 10 variations in Italian Style. Yuan Sheng is one of the foremost pianists of China, his international career brings him to all continents. Equally at home on period instruments and the modern piano he has a keen ear for style. His Chopin 3 CD set (PCL0049) for Piano Classics received excellent reviews, as did his Goldberg Variations (PCL0042) InchUnfailing intuition for the right balance. FascinatingInch (Piano News), InchEvery nuance filled with colour and expressionInch (The Classical Music Guide), Inchmodels of clarity, balance and proportionsInch (New York Times). Album Tracks 1. Aria 2. Variation 1 3. Variation 2 4. Variation 3 5. Variation 4 6. Variation 5 7. Variation 6 8. Variation 7 9. Variation 8 10. Variation 9 11. Variation 10 12. Four Duets, BWV802-805 13. I. 14. Andante 15. Presto 16. Ouverture 17. Courante 18. Gavotte I & II 19. Passepied I & II 20. Sarabande 21. Bourrée I & II 22. Gigue 23. Echo

Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (Bach's original spelling Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach) is a collection of keyboard music compiled by Johann Sebastian Bach for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann with a clear didactic purpose. Most of the pieces included are better known as parts of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions and Sinfonias. The pieces of the collection are arranged by complexity, beginning with the most simple works. The works are for InchKeyboardInch so may be played on any instrument organ, harpsichord, spinet or clavichord. Bach however considered the clavichord as the best instrument for personal use, because it is able to express most adequate the finest thoughts and a cantabile way of playing. Played on the clavichord by Yuan Sheng, InchChina's premier interpreter of BachInch (International Piano Magazine). A pupil of Solomon Mikowsky (Manhattan School of Music) and notably Rosalyn Tureck Yuan Sheng extensively studied the performance practice of Baroque music. Equally at home at the piano as the harpsichord he has an instinctive feeling for the possibilities, sonorities and touch of the instrument at hand, so that Inchthe listener might easily have imagined the composer at the keyboardInch (Boston Intelligencer). Album Tracks 1. Application in C Major, BWV 994 2. Prelude in C Major, BWV 924 3. Wer Nur Den Lieben Gott LÄSST Walten in a Minor, BWV 691 4. Prelude in D minor, BWV 926 5. Jesu, Meine Freude in D minor. BWV 753 6. Allemande in G minor, BVV 836 7. Allemande in G minor, BVV 837 8. Prelude in F Major, BWV 927 9. Prelude in G minor, BWV 930 10. Prelude in F Major, BWV 928 11. Minuet in G Major, BWV 841 12. Minuet in G minor, BWV 842 13. Minuet in G Major, BWV 843 14. Praeludium 15. Pièce Pour Le Clavecin 16. Prelude in C Major, BWV 924A 17. Prelude in D Major, BWV 925 18