978 3 540 29657 7

The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 3 is rarely heard, though it is a finely crafted work worth greater attention. It has suffered alongside the magnificent and superior Second and the ever-popular First. Moreover, it is not a bona fide concerto at all, the composer having completed only the first movement before his sudden death in 1893. Contrary to the suggestion of a few, it is highly unlikely he intended to produce a one-movement concerto. Tchaikovsky wrote two other piano pieces the same year bearing the titles "Andante" and "Finale," respectively. Following his death, Taneyev orchestrated these and attached them to the Concerto, though Tchaikovsky had left no indication they were to be a part of it. But the pair did share something in common with the completed first movement: a theme source – the incomplete Symphony No. 7. In any event, the opening movement of this Concerto is the most compelling, featuring an exuberant main theme whose first two notes are the central melodic element. An attractive slow melody is soon presented, followed by a theme of great vivacity and rhythmic drive.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Complete Piano Concertos Vol. 3
English Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim, Piano & Direction
2xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 556 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI "DRM" # CZS 7 62825 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1989
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Piano

In the 1960s, while still in his twenties, Daniel Barenboim joined forces with the English Chamber Orchestra to record a groundbreaking set of the complete Mozart Piano Concertos, conducting from the keyboard. Later, he recorded them again with the Berlin Philharmonic, but the English Chamber Orchestra version still has the edge for its bite and beauty, operatic mellifluousness offset by apparently boundless energy and an atmosphere of inspired and intimate music-making from start to finish. Barenboim brings us Mozart in all his many guises, from enfant terrible to founding father and, ultimately, avatar in the term’s original sense.

Decca Classics announces the release of a new record marking the 85th birthday of Grammy-winning conductor/OMF director, Seiji Ozawa. Recorded live in 2016/17, Ozawa leads the Saito Kinen Orchestra in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 and Leonore Overture No. 3, also marking the German composer’s 250th birthday year.

There are many listeners who have come to cherish Murray Perahia's Bach, to treasure the fleetness of his fingers, the delicacy of his touch, and the beauty of his tone. There are many listeners who are deeply moved by Perahia's recording of the Goldberg Variations, who hear tragic depths in its first groups of variations, consummate wit in final variations, and heartbreaking nostalgia in the return of the theme.