Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric François Chopin, Claude Achille Debussy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergey Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel
Performer: Friedrich Gulda
Orchestra: RIAS Symphonie Orchester
Conductor: Igor Markevitch
Number of Discs: 4
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Catalogue: AUDITE21404
Release: 2009
Size: 663 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
Beethoven: Sonata in G major, Op. 14,2
01. Allegro
02. Andante
03. Scherzo. Allegro assai
Beethoven: Sonata in E major, Op. 109
04. Vivace, ma non troppo.
05. Prestissimo
06. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo
Beethoven: Eroica Variations in E flat major, Op. 35
07. Introduzione col Basso del Tema. Allegro vivace
08. Var. 1 – Var. 15
09. Finale. Alla Fuga. Allegro con brio.
10. Beethoven: 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80
CD 02
Debussy: Suite: Pour Le Piano
01. I. Prélude. Assez animé et très rythmé
02. II. Sarabande. Avec une élégance grave et lente
03. III. Toccata. Vif
Debussy: Estampes
04. II. La soirée dans Grenada. Mouvement de Habanera
Debussy: Images (2ème Livre)
05. III. Poissons d’or. Animé
Debussy: Preludes (1er Livre)
06. VI. Des pas sur la neige. Triste et lent.
07. IX. La sérénade interrompue. Modérément animé – quasi guitarra.
Debussy: Suite Bergamasque
08. I. Prélude. Moderato
09. II. Menuet. Andantino
10. III. Clair de Lune. Andante très expressif
11. IV. Passepied. Allegretto ma non troppo
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
12. I. Ondine. Lent
13. II. Le Gibet. Très lent
14. III. Scarbo. Modéré
CD 03
Chopin: 24 Préludes, Op. 28
01. Prélude No. 1 in C major Agitato
02. Prélude No. 2 in A minor Lento
03. Prélude No. 3 in G major Vivace
04. Prélude No. 4 in E minor Largo
05. Prélude No. 5 in D major Allegro molto
06. Prélude No. 6 in B minor Lento assai
07. Prélude No. 7 in A major Andantino
08. Prélude No. 8 in F sharp minor Molto agitato
09. Prélude No. 9 in E major Largo
10. Prélude No. 10 in C sharp minor Allegro molto
11. Prélude No. 11 in B major Vivace
12. Prélude No. 12 in G sharp minor Presto
13. Prélude No. 13 in F sharp major Lento
14. Prélude No. 14 in E flat minor Allegro
15. Prélude No. 15 in D flat major „Raindrop“ Sostenuto
16. Prélude No. 16 in B flat minor Presto con fuoco
17. Prélude No. 17 in A flat major Allegretto
18. Prélude No. 18 in F minor Allegro molto
19. Prélude No. 19 in E flat major Vivace
20. Prélude No. 20 in C minor Largo
21. Prélude No. 21 in B flat major Cantabile
22. Prélude No. 22 in G minor Molto agitato
23. Prélude No. 23 in F major Moderato
24. Prélude No. 24 in D minor Allegro appassionato
25. Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
26. Chopin: Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60
Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B flat major, Op. 83
27. I. Allegro inquieto – Andantino
28. II. Andante caloroso
29. III. Precipitato
CD 04
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor K. 491
01. I. Allegro [Cadenza: Johann Nepomuk Hummel]
02. II. Larghetto [Eingang: Johann Nepomuk Hummel]
03. III. Allegretto [Eingang: Johann Nepomuk Hummel]
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major Op. 101
04. I. Etwas lebhaft und mit der innigsten Empfindung. Allegretto ma non troppo
05. II. Lebhaft, marschmäßig. Vivace alla marcia
06. III. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. Adagio ma non troppo con affetto –
07. IV. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit. Allegro
The public image of Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) is divided: for some, he is one of the most important Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century, whereas others perceive him as an enfant terrible whose battle against the cultural establishment and the constraints of the music business, which limited his multifaceted artistic interests and talents, became legendary.As ever, such generalisations are both true and false. This compilation of hitherto unreleased recordings made by Gulda for the RIAS Berlin between 1950 and 1959 enables us to experience the pianist and musician Gulda in a more differentiated and unprejudiced manner. For even here, the ‘complete musician’ – as Gulda saw himself throughout his career – comes into view.The spectrum of recordings which, given the almost frightening concert and recording activities Gulda tackled during this decade, only represents the tip of the iceberg, speaks for itself: it stretches from Mozart to Prokofiev and shows Gulda to be a universal artist who, from the beginning, sought to combine the highest possible degree of objectivity and authenticity with the greatest intensity of music-making.
Gulda’s musical and pianistic foundations had been laid in Vienna by his teacher Bruno Seidlhofer, who had formed nearly all the important pianists of the ‘Viennese School’; the quality of Gulda’s training was confirmed by his being awarded the first prize at the Geneva Piano Competition in 1946 which Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli had won before him. Gulda looked for role models who displayed a spontaneous and at the same time controlled intensity in their playing, and he found them in American Jazz, whose inexorable rise in post-war Europe was to fascinate him throughout his career. The early Mozart and Beethoven recordings, made in 1950, demonstrate Gulda’s phenomenal analytical understanding of compositional structures and his unerring sense of rhythm and touch.
His Chopin and Ravel recordings are sensational: on the highest pianistic level, Chopin’s Prélude Op. 28 and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit are presented in a rare, incisive manner on both a musical and dramatic level.With his interpretation of two important early works by Debussy, the Suite pour le Piano and the Suite bergamasque, as well as a selection of the Préludes, Gulda also proves to be one of the few non-French pianists who found a decidedly modern and yet authentic access to these masterworks.The programme closes with single pieces by Chopin (Nocturne in C minor,Op. 48 No. 1 and Berceuse Op. 60), demonstrating Gulda’s intensive exploration of romantic works, as well as a spectacular recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 Op. 83, made in 1950. Prokofiev’s music, whose wildness in the end proved incompatible with Gulda, did not remain in his repertoire for long; he did, however, pass on important impulses to his most famous pupil, Martha Argerich.