Schiff

András Schiff has recorded Bach's six partitas twice, first for Decca in 1985 and then for ECM in 2009, and both are superlative in their own ways. Schiff was then and is now a pianist possessing a fluent technique, an agile tone, and a sense of phrasing that makes counterpoint sing, but his interpretations of the Partitas have changed over 25 years. His later performances are more pointed and more poised, thoughtful, and ardent than his earlier one, but they are also less mellow and much less pedaled, with no less drive, but perhaps less lyricism. Whether Schiff's earlier or later performance appeals more will be a matter of personal taste. Less significant, perhaps, but still striking, is the difference in the quality of the sound. Decca's early digital sound, like its late stereo sound, was rich, deep, detailed, and atmospheric. ECM's late digital sound, like its early digital sound, is extremely clear and enormously immediate…

András Schiff has recorded Bach's six partitas twice, first for Decca in 1985 and then for ECM in 2009, and both are superlative in their own ways. Schiff was then and is now a pianist possessing a fluent technique, an agile tone, and a sense of phrasing that makes counterpoint sing, but his interpretations of the Partitas have changed over 25 years. His later performances are more pointed and more poised, thoughtful, and ardent than his earlier one, but they are also less mellow and much less pedaled, with no less drive, but perhaps less lyricism. Whether Schiff's earlier or later performance appeals more will be a matter of personal taste. Less significant, perhaps, but still striking, is the difference in the quality of the sound. Decca's early digital sound, like its late stereo sound, was rich, deep, detailed, and atmospheric. ECM's late digital sound, like its early digital sound, is extremely clear and enormously immediate…

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

Two great artists, pianist András Schiff and composer/clarinettist Jörg Widmann, join forces for the first time on record, performing Brahms’s late masterpieces, the clarinet sonatas op. 120, written in 1894. In between the sonatas Schiff plays Widmann’s evocative Intermezzi for piano. As Jörg Widmann explains in a programme note, these are works inspired by his friendship with András Schiff and by a shared love of Brahms, to whom they pay tribute. The album was recorded at Neumarkt’s Historischer Reitstadel.

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

As Sir András Schiff turns 70 (in December 2023), this 78-disc edition celebrates an artist who has made a significant contribution to shaping Decca’s history through an array of artistic endeavours. Neatly divided into four sections – solo, concertante, lieder and chamber music, the set includes several currently unavailable recordings; the first international release of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas, with Sándor Végh; four CDs’ worth of material recorded on Mozart’s fortepiano; and the booklet includes an interview with Misha Donat in which Schiff tells the story of his journey with Decca.

First there was rhythm - pulsing, driving, primal rhythm. And a new word in musical terminology: Barbaro. As with sticks on skins, so with hammers on strings. The piano as one of the percussion family, the piano among the percussion family. The first and second concertos were written to be performed that way. But the rhythm had shape and direction, myriad accents, myriad subtleties. An informed primitivism. A Baroque primitivism. Then came the folkloric inflections chipped from the music of time: the crude and misshapen suddenly finding a singing voice. Like the simple melody - perhaps a childhood recollection - that emerges from the dogged rhythm of the First Concerto's second movement. András Schiff plays it like a defining moment - the piano reinvented as a singing instrument. His "parlando" (conversational) style is very much in Bartók's own image. But it's the balance here between the honed and unhoned, the brawn and beauty, the elegance and wit of this astonishing music that make these readings special.