le Piano Oriental

25 pianistes de légende, 25 albums originaux, emblématiques et encensés par la critique dont 16 à nouveau disponibles individuellement. Pour la première fois Radio Classique est associé en licence de marque à une initiative portant sur des albums originaux emblématiques. Leurs précédentes discothèques et actions ont toujours été nourries de compilations.

“Superlatives are likely to flow towards this stunning Avie release, not least thanks to the eloquent, emotionally-insightful playing of Austrian violinist David Frühwirth and his Finnish pianist Henri Sigfridsson”. “With a good mixture of musical humor and deep seriousness both the artists make their claim clear to be accepted in the league of international and interesting rising generation of Soloists“

The collection gathers the best relaxing tunes from the piano repertoire performed by most eminent musicians: Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand Chamayou, Aldo Ciccolini, Samson François, Hélène Grimaud, Stephen Kovacevich, Nicolai Lugansky, Maria-João Pires, Maurizio Pollini, Anne Queffélec, Alexandre Tharaud and Alexis Weissenberg.

This record pairs two composers linked by personal and stylistic association with two performers ideally suited to their music technically and temperamentally. Both composer were attracted to gypsy music, as is shown in the works included here: one early and one late work each.

One of the threads that runs through Debussy’s music is an expressive range that embraces the tragic to the grotesque. This is especially evident in his early piano music. The Suite bergamasque is the masterpiece of his pre-Raphaelite period, a compound of archaism, rich lyricism and decadence. Pour le piano also evokes a medieval atmosphere, while – in its Toccata finale – offering perpetual motion virtuosity. There is an oriental ethos in the Nocturne, the Rêverie is an alluring portrait, and Images oubliées – which was unpublished as a set until as late as 1977 – contains both rich portraiture and burlesque.