In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.
David Fray – named Instrumentalist of the Year in France’s Victoires de la Musique 2010 – retains his focus on Austro-German repertoire with his second CD of concertos for Virgin Classics: Mozart’s Concertos Nos 22 and 25 with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra under Dutch violinist-turned-conductor (and Music Director of the Dallas Symphony), Jaap van Zweden.
“Above all, I would like to advocate a certain vision of music and to make it accessible without altering its value or the level on which it operates.” David Fray – Instrumentalist of the Year in France’s Victoires de la Musique 2010 – turns to Mozart for his second CD of concertos for Virgin Classics. The response of The Sunday Times to his last solo release was: “No Schubert-lover should miss this piano recital by David Fray,” while The Guardian evoked “pianism of the highest class”.
Fray’s last release was a solo programme of Schubert, a figure who embodies the transition to Romanticism from the Classicism of Mozart, a fellow Austrian. The recital was praised by the critics for its distinctive and many-layered interpretation: “No Schubert-lover should miss this piano recital by David Fray,” urged the BBC Music Magazine, while The Sunday Times felt that: “These are wonderful performances by the young French pianist David Fray, a player with a beautiful touch and the finest control of dynamics and chording ... By taking his time, without ever weakening the music’s inexorable momentum, Fray fills every note with meaning, in such a way that we feel intensely each mercurial change of mood and colour and texture, relish Schubert’s astonishing harmonic invention to the full, and relive the heartbreak, the ferocity, the elation, the visionary flights of these inexhaustible works.” The Guardian was enthused by “the sheer lucidity and polish of Fray's playing, its exceptional command of colour and touch, and the way he invariably uses that range of sound to point up musical structures in a meaningful way … pianism of the highest class.”
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 K.482 In E Flat Major - Allegro
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 K.482 In E Flat Major - Andante
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 K.482 In E Flat Major - Allegro
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.25 K.503 In C Major - Allegro Maesteoso
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.25 K.503 In C Major - Andante
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.25 K.503 In C Major - Allegretto
2nd December 2010
****
“with superb orchestral support from the Philharmonia and Jaap van Zweden, [Fray] makes no apologies for presenting them in a suitably grand, rather old-fashioned way...The range of colour he draws from the instrument, later in that same movement of K503 but also in its equivalent in the E flat concerto K482, is exquisite, each phrase perfectly weighted.”
Graham Rogers
30th November 2010
“On the basis of these recordings, Fray has an instinctive Mozartean affinity – he communicates fresh ideas with subtle, stylistic deftness...Throughout, Fray and Zweden work together with remarkable symbiosis.”
9th January 2011
****
“he is very fine in the grand first movement: the richness and variety of colour he finds in the development section (particularly in the long, quiet lead-back to the reprise), and in the sad, mysterious second movement, are magical. Fray’s carefully thought-out but vivid interpretations of both concertos are ably supported by the conductor and the Philharmonia’s splendid wind section.”
March 2011
“his touch can be exquisitely delicate, he can generate impressive grandeur when required, and there are some very successful transitions between the two.”
March 2011
***
“Rising star David Fray has an exceptionally beautiful tone, which is a joy in a world when so many pianists crash about regardless. Everything is clear and singing.”
March 2011
“The need to be on the look-out for new colours, new lines of thought, as if improvised on the fly, are concerns Fray has obviously taken great pains to weave into his performances, and the music breathes very naturally as a consequence of his solicitous temperament. Van Zweden's handling of the textures is craftsmanlike.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 K.482 In E Flat Major - Allegro
