Padres Que Dejan Huella

For this super audio disc from Channel Classics, Dejan Lazic's live performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major is programmed with his solo recordings of the Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, "Moonlight," and the Sonata No. 31 in A flat major. Ostensibly, this is a sonic showcase for Lazic and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, under Richard Tognetti, and the state-of-the-art technology brings out the best in the musicians, giving the pianist an intimate presence without crowding him or artificially boosting his volume, while at the same time lending the orchestra a spaciousness that really opens it up.

Dejan Lazić: The concept behind our present undertaking, the Mozart Piano Concertos CD-trilogy, is to bring together concertos of Mozart’s miscellaneous composing and performing periods, styles, techniques, and instrumentations side by side, thus to deeply examine and throughout his travels more closely explore his many creative phases within this genre. That is linked further with an encore-like single work on each CD, yet the additional connecting link between these initially planned six piano concertos is the Cadenzas & Lead-ins which I have composed myself.

Although they were separated due to a period of creative despair which interrupted his work, both the second Piano Concerto and the Moments Musicaux date from Rachmaninov’s early period, during which he was active primarily as a composer rather than a pianist. This explains the character of the second Piano Concerto, which partakes of both chamber music and symphony, despite the dazzling virtuosity of the solo piano part.