Andrey Lappa

Since our meeting during our studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2010 and a few years of concerts and exploration, we are happy to be able to concretize a project that has been close to our hearts for a long time: the recording of our first disc. We designed the Color Gradient program together, featuring works composed between the end of the 19th century and the present day. The program is a journey from France to America and from so-called classical music to almost improvised music. Color Gradient can be seen as a tribute to the incredible stylistic and aesthetic evolutions of music during the 20th century in terms of harmony, form and melodic freedom.

This live performance took place during the AEVEA IPC (II/2020, onclassical.com/app/) and was recorded as HD/24-bits by producer and engineer Alessandro Simonetto by using 8 (eight) Bruel & Kjaeer and Neumann microphones. These recordings are part of the Aevea Piano Prize, and their sale are important in order to support future editions of the competition.

Andrey Gugnin presents a wonderful all-Grieg recital. The elegant neo-classicism of From Holberg's time (a rare and welcome opportunity to hear the original version for solo piano) contrasting with the brooding magnificence of the Ballade. Two complete sets of Lyric Pieces- those most perfect of piano miniatures-are also included.

There's a little joke behind the innocuous name of Ernest Bloch's Symphony in E-flat. It is, in truth, one of his most harmonically acerbic works, very close to the tortured contrapuntal idiom of another famous Swiss composer: Honegger. The piece only really achieves its home key in the quiet, final bars, but along the way sparks fly in all directions, and no matter how dissonant the idiom the argument is very easy to follow, and melodies and motives have distinctive, easily recognizable shapes.

An anniversary accolade with a twist: one hundred and fifty years after his birth, this is a wonderful recital of some of the many works dedicated to Leopold Godowsky. It’s difficult to imagine more persuasive performances than these by Andrey Gugnin, who makes a second appearance on Hyperion after his universally—and vociferously—acclaimed Shostakovich.

Hyperion is thrilled to welcome to the label Andrey Gugnin, winner of the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition. With a spectacular all-Shostakovich programme built around the two piano sonatas, this is simply electrifying pianism.