Coming Soon,
Forthcoming recordings from great pianists
Following on from Katherine's selection of the autumn's most exciting vocal highlights, here's my round-up of the ten most promising piano releases coming up over the course of the next few months, including the return of two living legends to Deutsche Grammophon…
The 26-year-old pianist (whose Liszt album was announced as a Gramophone Awards finalist yesterday) turns to Chopin for his next release; taking its title from one of Federico Mompou’s Variations on his Prelude Op. 28 No. 7, Evocations includes both piano concertos in new orchestrations by Mikhail Pletnev (which Trifonov praises for their ‘new orchestral transparency') and Chopin-inspired works for solo piano by Barber, Schumann and Tchaikovsky.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The end of an era: for financial reasons, the fifteenth annual gathering of the legendary Argentine pianist and her close colleagues and pupils in Lugano was sadly also the last. Argerich's solo spots last year included Ravel's Piano Concerto and Gaspard de la Nuit (a work which she's only rarely performed) and two piano duets - Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune with her ex-husband Stephen Kovacevich, and Mozart K448 with Sergei Babayan.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Saint-Saëns: Le carnaval des animaux
Martha Argerich & Antonio Pappano (piano); Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Not a solo piano disc, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to give a shout-out to this charming powerhouse collaboration on Saint-Saëns’s ‘zoological fantasy’! Argerich first joined Pappano and his Roman orchestra in 2012, for Schumann’s Piano Concerto, but this time they join forces at the keyboard – with Annie Dutoit (Argerich’s daughter with the conductor Charles Dutoit, also a famous exponent of this piece) narrating.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Fifty years ago, this brilliant Brazilian pianist made his solo recording debut with Brahms's Third Piano Sonata; now it forms the centrepiece of a recital which 'builds a bridge' between the early and late Intermezzi, as well as exploring Brahms's imaginative debts to Schumann and Schubert. (Freire's superb recording of the two Brahms Concertos is currently on special offer as part of our '40 Years of the Gramophone Awards' promotion).
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Canadian pianist’s first volume of Scarlatti (released last March) was praised as ‘intuitive and alluring’ by BBC Music Magazine (who also made it their Instrumental Choice of the month), whilst The Times admired ‘brilliance of articulation, singing line and wit’ of her playing. No confirmation as yet regarding how many further volumes are in the pipeline, but there's certainly no shortage of material: with 33 sonatas down, there are still 522 to go!
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Turkish pianist and composer has waited a long time to commit Chopin to disc, on the grounds that he 'wanted to have a very specific idea about me playing Chopin' before taking it into the studio; his new album focuses on works which he describes as 'especially beautiful, extremely poetic little night pieces that always convey a narrative'.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Though Sibelius wrote around 150 works for piano, it's an area of his output that's languished in the shadow of his orchestral music: Andsnes observes that during the recording sessions for this album ‘Everyone was astonished that there can be a major composer out there with such beautiful accessible music that people don’t know’. (We'll confess that the only work we all recognised in the office was the composer's own arrangement of his Valse Triste!)
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
After a 25-year break, Kissin rekindles his relationship with Deutsche Grammophon with this personal selection of live Beethoven recordings, made between 2006 and 2016; the collection charts the composer’s extraordinary development from the early sonata Op. 2 No. 3 to the great Op. 111, and also includes the Appassionata, Moonlight and Les Adieux.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Also making a welcome return to the 'yellow label' after a quarter-century sabbatical is Krystian Zimerman, who marked his sixtieth birthday by recording Schubert's late sonatas - works which he confesses to have found prohibitively intimidating until recently. The recording was made in Japan last January, on a Steinway fitted with a keyboard which Zimerman had specially designed for these works.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The first of what are sure to be many tributes marking the centenary of the composer's death next March comes from a pianist who has serious form when it comes to Debussy: Steven Osborne, whose 2006 recording of the Preludes was described as containing ‘little miracles of colour and control’ (Record Review) and ‘extraordinarily brilliant playing’ (Gramophone). Includes Masques, L’isle Joyeuse, Children’s Corner and Estampes.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
