Schumann: Piano Works

“Her selection is sufficiently individual to make comparison a marginal issue, and so too is her playing, which once more displays a distinctive personal eloquence...For Clara Schumann the Fantasie was beyond wonder. Such unbridled joy is reflected in de la Salle's bold and impassioned response.” --Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2014

“The ebb and flow of phrases in Variation 2 … is ‘delicious’, as the French would say … surely, this is one of the best recordings of this work … [de la Salle] certainly has the fingers and the arms for almost any task she might undertake, and I look forward very much to following her career.” --International Record Review, October 2014

"I’ve always listened to a lot of Schumann. He fascinated me when I was a little girl of six or seven. I’ve always been attracted by the manic side of him, his very individual ‘touch’, and I’ve always loved surrendering myself to his music. I feel very close to it. But although Schumann is one of the composers I get most out of, I waited a long time before I played him ‘seriously’... I think I didn’t want to risk being disappointed by myself. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine that everything I had dreamt about this music might not take shape exactly as I wanted. So I waited until I was completely ready, and that moment came a few years ago. The Fantasie was the apotheosis of those dreams of mine. So I built this programme around it. As for the Kinderszenen, I often played the piece Der Dichter spricht as an encore; I think it’s extraordinarily evocative, yet without any trace of technical demonstration – the power it packs into just a few notes is deeply moving to me. In a recording, I especially like to take the listener by the hand and set out to show him or her the greatest possible number of things. I always try to find a trajectory in my programmes. That’s what we have on this disc: beginning with the Fantasie as my starting-point, I double back to the very start of Schumann’s career with the Abegg Variations, then I follow the course of the short pieces, very varied in atmosphere, that make up the Kinderszenen. A musical journey needs those contrasts, and Schumann draws the essence of emotion from them." Lise de la Salle

At the age of 14, Lise de la Salle's first recording (Ravel, Rachmaninov) marked the start of her collaboration with Naïve.

In 2004, her second album (Bach, Liszt) was named CD of the Month by Gramophone. This was followed in 2007 by a third CD, the First Concertos of Shostakovich, Liszt, and Prokofiev with Lawrence Foster and the Gulbenkian Orchestra, which won the same distinction in Gramophone. In 2008 came a double album of Mozart and Prokofiev featuring a DVD (Lise de la Salle, Majeure!) directed by Jean-Philippe Perrot, which was named Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Choice. The year 2010 saw the release of a Chopin recording, featuring the Second Concerto with the Dresden Staatskapelle under Fabio Luisi and the four Ballades. The most recent additions to her discography are a Liszt programme and 'Lise de la Salle: A Portrait.'

Read More

Schumann: Arrangements for Piano Duet, Vol. 2

The demand for piano duet arrangements of concert music during Schumann’s lifetime was very considerable. An inveterate piano duettist himself, Schumann supervised the String Quartet arrangements made by the talented young composer Otto Dressel, whose brilliant solutions to formal problems produced these acclaimed adaptations, for use in home or salon. It was another fine arranger and composer, Theodore Kirchner - admired by Clara Schumann and Brahms – who arranged the Studies for the pedal piano, Op.56, in 1888. This is the second of seven volumes to include Schumann’s entire orchestral works, and selected chamber ones, arranged for piano duet.

"It is difficult to think of a world without radio and recordings, so that even if you could get to concerts, you would probably never hear a work more than once.  So far as the present disc is concerned, Schumann became involved in both string quartet arrangements, and certainly for the purpose that they were originally intended they are competent pieces of work, though the percussive nature of the piano is unable to recreate the long flowing lyrical lines of string instruments. I suppose my upbringing as a violinist comes into the picture, and pianists may take a very differing view, but the nature of both quartets is changed into something that is tonally far more simplistic and devoid of the contrasting colours of four string instruments. It is very different when we move to the Studies for pedal piano…for it was conceived as a score for the keyboard. The Eckerle Piano Duo, a German-based husband and wife partnership, are highly persuasive, the six studies avoiding the usual academic mode to emerge as scores of beauty and loving tenderness. The sound is very pleasing, the duo apparently scheduled to place on disc arrangements of Schumann’s entire orchestral works." --David's Review Corner, August 2013

Read More

Schumann: Arrangements for Piano Duet, Vol. 1

Piano arrangements were the main way for people to become acquainted with concert repertoire in Schumann’s day, and publishers ensured that the huge demand for such versions was met. Otto Dresel’s arrangement of the String Quartet, Op. 41, No. 3 was approved by the composer. Clara Schumann was dedicatee and soloist for the Piano Quintet, Op. 44, and she was able to draw on her intimate knowledge of her husband’s work to make her own highly effective arrangement. This is the first of seven volumes including Schumann’s entire orchestral works arranged for piano duet.

 "Sitting side by side must come naturally to the Eckerle Piano Duo…Naxos’s Brahms discs were entrusted to Silke Thora-Matthies and Christian Köhn, who achieved the most professional results. The Eckerles are similarly polished and, if anything, more imaginative, although there’s an air of comfortable domesticity to these performances that suits these arrangements well. This is not wild Schumann, but especially in the String Quartet No. 3, it’s Schumann the devoted husband and father. It’s charming, affectionate stuff. Perhaps this is “only” a curiosity, but it’s extremely well done, and I will be looking forward to subsequent volumes, which I believe will include arrangements of all four symphonies." --Fanfare, March 2013

"The wonderful disc is the first of a seven-volume series that will include all of Schumann’s orchestral works arranged for piano duet.Based on the Eckerle’s musical playing and perfect ensemble, this is a notable first volume and will keep me on the lookout for more in the series. The duet version is commendable in its handling of many voices that lie on top of each other. All told, we have a great beginning to a series that I will watch for in the future." --American Record Guide, March 2013

Read More

Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos

“Mertanen's bravura is commanding, as, more importantly, are his tenderness and spontaneous poetic response...The Gavle Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Koivula also play gloriously...Everything is given with a living and breathing romantic impulse, is essentially "live", and you will sense a special warmth and spontaneity from Janne Mertanen.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2014

"...gorgeously played and may find an appreciative audience. Both works are bathed in warm, resonant acoustics that couldn't be more apposite. Thanks to Alba for efforts to keep the surround SACD format reasonable." --American Record Guide

Read More

Brahms: Violinkonzert; Schumann: Fantasie op.131

One of the most charismatic and best-loved violinists of modern times, Germany's Anne-Sophie Mutter began her studies on the piano at the age of five. She shortly added violin lessons with Erna Hornigberger. In 1970 and again in 1974, she won first place in the Jugend Musiziert contest for young musicians. Herbert von Karajan heard her play at the age of 13 and paved the way for her international career. This began in 1977 with appearances at the Salzburg Festival and with her English debut under Daniel Barenboim. The next year, 1978, she made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and released her first recording, of the Mozart Third and Fifth Concertos.

Read More

Great Piano Concertos (10-CD Box Set)

"The box set Great Piano Concertos has been produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Naxos and draws on their extensive catalogue of concerto recordings. The recording quality varies from the older 1980’s recordings but there are some good things to enjoy in the 10 CD set particularly Idil Biret playing the two Chopin piano concerts with the Slovak State Philharmonic under Rubert Stankovsky. The two Liszt concertos with Eldar Nebolsin and the RLPO under Petrenko are also very enjoyable as is Jenő Jando playing the Grieg and Schumann concertos with the Budapest Symphony under András Ligeti. There are finer performances available in the catalogue of these works but this box set give an excellent introduction at a bargain price." --Audiophilia, May 2012

At the very heart of a concerto is the interplay and contrast of a solo instrument within a larger instrumental ensemble. The natural progression from the Baroque concerto grosso, the concerto as we know it was fully established as a concert staple in the eighteenth century, and many works dating from this period are still a key part of the repertoire today. The opportunity for dazzling virtuosic display from the soloist has resulted in the concerto becoming a vital musical force both on the concert platform and in the audience arena.

The most important composer in the development of the early piano concerto was Mozart, whose masterly compositions for the instrument paved the way for expansion of the form by composers such as Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms and Grieg. In the Romantic era, composers such as Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky lent a distinctly Russian fluency and passion to the idiom, whilst no pianistic survey would be complete without the transcendent concertos of those great piano masters, Chopin and Liszt. The twentieth century transformed the piano concerto yet further with splendid offerings from a delicate Ravel, fiery Prokofiev and jazzy Gershwin to name but a few.

Read More