Schubert Nocturne

Schubert: "Wanderer" Fantasy (2019 edition, 1989 edition), Impromptu Op. 90, Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 11, No. 18, Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3, Others recorded from 1988-2021.

Introduced to each other by mutual friend Dino Saluzzi in 2003, German cellist Anja Lechner and Argentinean guitarist Pablo Márquez have since explored the most diverse repertoire and modes of expression in their concerts. For their first duo album, a conceptual context is provided by the strong tradition of songs with guitar accompaniment prevalent in 19th century Vienna, as Lechner and Márquez play music of Franz Schubert. Many of Schubert’s songs were published in alternative versions with guitar during the composer’s lifetime; in some cases, the guitar version appeared even before the one for piano. Interspersed on the recording, as an echo and commentary to Schubert’s spirit and language, are the graceful Trois Nocturnes originally written for cello and guitar by Friedrich Burgmüller (1806-1874). Die Nacht is issued as Lechner and Márquez embark on a European tour with concerts in Germany, Austria, France, Hungary and Romania.

Turning 90 in December 2013, Menahem Pressler was the pianist of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio for almost 55 years, and continues to enjoy a blossoming career as soloist and recitalist, while remaining as committed to teaching as ever. For the greater part of his life, Pressler has lived with the two great sonatas recorded here, and has recounted how he studied Beethoven’s Sonata in A flat major, Op.110 as a young man after having fled Nazi Germany for Israel in 1939: ‘I didn't really understand many of the things that I understand now. I only understood the enormous emotional… tearing, tearing on my insides…’

Elisabeth Leonskaja is a Soviet and Austrian pianist. She was trained in the Russian school of piano. She made an international career after she won the Enesco International Piano Competition in Bucharest in 1964, and has lived in Vienna since 1978.

Turning 90 in December 2013, Menahem Pressler was the pianist of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio for almost 55 years, and continues to enjoy a blossoming career as soloist and recitalist, while remaining committed to teaching. For the greater part of his life, Pressler has lived with the two great sonatas recorded here. As an epilogue to these two pillars of the piano literature, Pressler has chosen to play a particular favorite of his, Chopin's brief but exquisite Nocturne in C sharp minor, a work that he often performs at the end of his recitals.