SCHMANN; LISZT; SCHUBERT; WAGNER/LISZT; RACHMANINOV: Lazar Berman, piano; Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, January 14, 1988.NTSC All Region; LPCM 2.0; Dolby Digital 5.1; 16:9; Approx. 100 mins. LAZAR BERMAN - THE 1988 TOKYO RECITAL - ROBERT SCHUMANN: Piano Sonta No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 11; FRANZ LISZT: Selections from"Annees de Pelerinage": deuxieme annees, Italie; FRANZ SCHUBERT/F. LISZT: Ave Maria; RICHARD WAGNER/LISZT: Isolde Liebestod; SERGEI RACHMANINOV: Moment musical in E minor, Op. 16 No. 4.

In recent years the young Swiss conductor Simon Gaudenz has made a name for himself, particularly as an interpreter of the Classical-era repertoire. A fresh, new approach against the background of historically informed performance practice characterizes his recordings and concerts. During this same time he was associated with the Odense Symphony based on the island of Funen (the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and Carl Nielsen!), serving as its principal guest conductor. This orchestra, one of Denmark's premier musical bodies next to the Danish Radio Symphony in Copenhagen, immediately felt that extraordinary things could be realized with this baton-wielding revolutionary. It was agreed that he and the orchestra take on Schumann, the results being this 2CD set of the complete symphonies.

Even before meeting they were dedicating hours of practice to Liszt’s Mephisto Waltzes. An international solo piano competition was coming up, and the two young pianists were scheduled to vie against each other with this work. Twenty-five years and dozens of successful competitions later, the same two pianists sat down opposite each other at two grand pianos to perform not as rivals but as a renowned duo. “We have decided to dedicate this CD recording to Franz Liszt’s original works for two pianos and to his versions of his own solo piano compositions for two pianos” (Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo).

cpo continues their exploration with Ries’ Notturni for Winds, works exemplifying his great compositional talent. Although set for the same instruments, the works are very different in ambition and dimension. The recording also includes Mozart’s Partita in B flat–better known as the Gran Partita–in the version for wind octet. This release is most highly recommended to all fans of good chamber music!

The Eskar Trio have established themselves as one of Denmark’s leading chamber music ensembles and Cpo are proud to present their interpretation of Johann Brahms’s Piano Trios.

In addition to the three well-known trios is the Piano Trio in A major, a work whose authorship continues to be a matter of controversy. The anonymous score from a Bonn manuscript collection of the nineteenth century was discovered in 1924 (now extant), and it is thought to be a sole survivor from collection of piano trios the self-critical composer withheld from publication.