Andras Schiff

“My enthusiasm for Brahms goes back to my youth, and the piano concertos are largely responsible for it,” writes Sir András Schiff in a liner note for this remarkable new recording. It finds the great pianist reassessing interpretive approaches to Brahms in the inspired company of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. To fully bring out the characteristics of Brahms’s music Schiff’s choice of instrument is a Blüthner piano built in Leipzig around 1859, the year in which the D minor concerto was premiered.

Schiff’s performances are, as expected, profound, masterful, and not flashy at all. While he ornaments the works creatively, he doesn’t exaggerate. He is sometimes serious, sometimes playful, yet it’s clear just how much he understands and appreciates this music…

Mozart is the most pervasively dramatic composer in history. The spirit of opera informs very nearly his every work. Themes are characters; characters interact; they change. András Schiff’s alertness to the dialogue in Mozart is reflected both in his acute sense of characterisation and his immensely sophisticated use of articulation. Every line breathes. Not only that, every tone tells. Just as the voice in conversation subtly reflects the speaker’s state of mind, so Schiff’s deployment of sonority derives from an acute perception of the notes’ psychological as well as their purely musical character. This recording from the historical and stunningly beautiful Teatro Olimpico affords us numerous insights into Schiff’s approach to music and music-making, and more besides. Schiff’s joy in performance is as evident to the eye as to the ear.

Experience the musical brilliance of Sir András Schiff with this exclusive Blu-ray Disc collection, a tribute to the life's work of one of the world's most celebrated pianists and conductors. With an unparalleled ability to breathe life into compositions, Schiff captivates audiences worldwide, rekindling almost forgotten ideals of piano artistry. This Blu-ray collection features his captivating renditions of Bartok's Piano Concertos, Schubert's Piano Trios, Bach's Goldberg Variations, and more. Schiff's acclaimed Janacek and Schubert interpretations are also included. The András Schiff Collector's Edition is a treasure trove of classical music, offering rare archival footage from the years 1989 to 2008. It is an opportunity to witness the evolution of an artist who has left an indelible mark on the world of classical music.

The set of Inventions being reviewed here doesn’t suffer from any of these flaws – they are refined and musical and sound like Schiff is enjoying himself while playing them. The 2nd of the Three-Part Inventions is a sad, reflective piece in C minor and Schiff executes it with sensitivity and finesse, with a careful ear for the balance of the voices , with the upward and downward scale that Bach includes inserted into the texture with elegance. The next Invention, in D major, is completely different in feeling and Schiff makes it dance.

Who needs another recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations? After all, there have been so many great recordings of the work already – Landowska, Kempff, Gould, Pinnock, and Leonhardt, to name a few – that surely no one needs another recording of the Goldberg. Actually, everyone needs another recording of the Goldbergs provided that it's a recording of a great performance. There's too much in the Goldberg – too much brilliance, too much sorrow, too much humor, too much spirituality – for any one performance, even the best performance, to contain all of it. So long as the performance honors the work's honesty, integrity, and virtuosity, there's always room for another Goldberg on the shelf. This 2001 recording by Andras Schiff belongs on any shelf of great Goldbergs. Schiff has everything it takes – the virtuosity; the integrity; and most importantly, the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual honesty – to turn in a great Goldberg. Indeed, Schiff has already done so in his 1982 Decca recording of the work, a lucid and pellucid performance of tremendous beauty and depth. But as good as the 1982 recording was, the 2001 recording is better.