In 2008 Gramophone named the present-day Staatskapelle Dresden one of the ten best orchestras in the world. Under its current principal conductor, Fabio Luisi, this venerable ensemble deploys its sumptuous sonorities on Mahler's grandiose First Symphony in a performance fulsomely praised in press reviews. The Austrian pianist Margarita Höhenrieder has enjoyed acclaim as the result of her successes in a whole series of international piano competitions.Among these awards was first prize in the prestigious Busoni Competition in Bolzano.
Bonus Documentary: Margarita Höhenrieder - Portrait of an Artist
August 2009
*****
“This is an exhilarating disc, and in all respects. It comes from a tour by the great Dresden Staatskapelle, one of the orchestras in the world which retains a very distinctive communal sound, slightly rugged or even gritty, with sumptuous brass and lean strings, though one never feels them to be weak. Still more exciting is Margarita Höhenrieder, a youngish pianist... who delivers a fiery, subtle, spontaneous and noble account of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, in which she is truly in dialogue with the orchestra. The second part of the concert is a fresh, invigorating account of Mahler's First Symphony...”
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