Giovanni Bellucci

Giovanni Bellucci is one of the most interesting and extraordinary pianists of today. Described by Piero Rattalino as “a force of nature, vast and palpitating”, his playing is highly original, striving to recreate the original impact of the works he is playing: “he takes us back to the Golden Age of the Piano” wrote Le Monde. His recordings, notably with works by Liszt, were showered with prizes such as Diapason d’Or, Choc, Editor’s Choice, CD Maestro etc.Bellucci’s Beethoven is free, with a strong sense of rhetoric and improvisation, adhering nevertheless strictly to the score and its intentions. The result is fresh, exhilarating and illuminating, letting us marvel at the originality and genius of the music.

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In the 1970s and 1980s, when the listener was starved of the unusual and was happy to listen to anything off the beaten track, some of these pieces sounded more exciting than they do now. I can remember enjoying a couple of the pieces more then than now. This is partly due to Hyperion’s wonderful Romantic Piano Concerto series, which has taken us yet further off the beaten track. It should be noted that some of the works presented here by Brilliant Classics do not feature in the Hyperion series and this makes this set all the more valuable.

The Staatskapelle Dresden (or Dresden State Orchestra), also known as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, is one of Europe's oldest continuously operating performing arts organizations. It has numbered some of Europe's most famous composers and conductors among its music directors, and amid changing fashions, it has enjoyed an almost unbroken reputation for high quality. The orchestra dates back to 1548, when Dresden was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was founded by the Elector Moritz of Saxony to accompany the court chorus in the new large choral compositions of the time.