New Piano Albums

Eugenio Catone:2022-01-04

Shostakovich - Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1

Shostakovich began his career as a pianist; many testimonies report his clear style of playing, and there are several recordings of his performances. Although he only composed sporadically for his own instrument, many of these works show a degree of ambition and depth of purpose not second to those of his more well known chamber and symphonic masterpieces.
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HieYon Choi:2021-12-30

Beethoven - The Great Sonatas

HieYon Choi first appeared on the international piano music scene in the early 1990s, when she won prizes at high-profile competitions such as Kapell, Epinal, Busoni and Viotti. She has performed complete Beethoven cycles, not only of the piano sonatas, but also of piano trios, violin sonatas, and works for cello and piano, in various venues in Korea, Germany and the US.
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Niklas Sivelöv & Carsten Dahl:2021-12-27

iNERTiA

Niklas Sivelöv belongs to a rare breed of classical pianist-composers who also truly master the art of improvisation. Here he teams up with Carsten Dahl, a similarly multi-talented musician that moves unimpeded from the bebop tradition to classical music, for some free improvisation on two pianos.
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Costantino Mastroprimiano:2021-12-23

Schubert - Sonatas D157, D664 & D850

Costantino Mastroprimiano is a distinctive figure in the field of historical piano. He has recorded Clementi’s and Hummel's complete piano sonatas as well as music by Beethoven, Chopin, Alkan, Burgmüller, Moscheles, Ries, and others. On this album, he traces Schubert's development as a sonata composer from the earliest efforts by the 18-year-old composer to mature works of the mid-1820s.
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Tristan Pfaff:2021-12-20

Voltiges

Tristan Pfaff explores the acrobatic side of piano playing - "every sleight of hand at the pianist's disposal is employed here", writes Stephen Paulello, the builder of the Opus 102 grand piano whose resources Pfaff exploits to the limit, playing original repertoire by Liapunov and Liszt, as well as virtuoso transcriptions by Cziffra, Pletnev, Horowitz and others.
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Christina Petrowska Quilico:2021-12-17

Vintage Americana

On this follow-up album to her recent "Retro Americana", Christina Petrowska Quilico performs compositions from six contemporary American composers. While the solo piano is the unquestioned star of the album, moments of electronic manipulation and other unexpected instrumentation offer surprising new textures.
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Alexandre Kantorow:2021-12-12

Brahms - Piano Sonata No 3, Four Ballades, Chaconne

Two years ago, Alexandre Kantorow became the first French pianist to win the gold medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition. His competition programme included Brahms second Piano Sonata, which he went on to record for release on his previous, highly praised recital disc. Now he has made an all-Brahms album including the third Sonata, the four Ballades, and the left-hand arrangement of Bach's Chaconne in D minor.
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Paul Guinery:2021-12-10

Dicky Bird Hop

"Too often, so-called 'light music' (we seem stuck with that term but I’m afraid I can’t think of a viable alternative) is dismissed or taken for granted without proper respect paid to the sheer craftsmanship and inventiveness that goes into its creation," says Paul Guinery about his album with piano music by composers Noel Coward, Billy Mayerl, Eric Coates, York Bowen, Haydn Wood and Madeleine Dring, amongst others.
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Stewart Goodyear:2021-12-09

Phoenix

Pianist Stewart Goodyear's latest album mixes Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with pieces by Debussy and contemporary composers Jennifer Higdon and Anthony Davis, all bookended by two of Goodyear's own compositions, reflecting his part-West Indian heritage.
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Hanna Shybayeva:2021-12-08

Beethoven (arr Lachner) - Piano Concertos 2 & 5

In the decades following Beethoven's death, the piano gained huge popularity as a domestic instrument, and piano concertos were increasingly arranged for chamber music ensembles. Ignaz Lachner’s arrangements of Mozart’s piano concertos are perhaps the most well known. This volume completes the cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos in transcriptions for piano and string quintet by Lachner's younger brother Vincent.
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David Fray:2021-12-06

Bach – Goldberg Variations

David Fray, known for his exactly nuanced touch and technical control, adds a landmark of the solo keyboard repertoire to his discography. "When, after these 30 transformations or changes (Bach called them “Veränderungen”), the theme reappears in its original bare form... the serenity that emerges, which never ceases to surprise, is that of fulfilment, of an order rediscovered."
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Adam Kosmieja:2021-12-05

Tribute to Gulda

Friedrich Gulda was an extraordinary character, hugely admired as one of the great exponents of classical pianism in the Viennese tradition, but at the same time viewed as a freakish eccentric because of his ventures into the fields of jazz, free improvisation and performance art. Adam Kosmieja plays a number of his demanding, jazzy solo works, and Beethoven's last piano sonata, which Gulda performed a lot in his early years.
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Ferenc Vizi:2021-12-03

Schubert – Piano Sonata D 664, Impromptus D 935

Ferenc Vizi writes about Schubert's Sonata D. 664: "if Schubert wanted to write a Spring Journey rather than his famous Winterreise, this music would fit perfectly. From the very first notes the music evokes an enchanted awakening in joyous natural surroundings, shining in the traveller’s eye." The Impromptus D. 935 are among Schubert's last works.
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Dmitri Alexeev:2021-12-01

Scriabin – Complete Piano Music

Dmitri Alexeyev has spent the last decade recording this complete Scriabin cycle. Now in his seventies, he brings a lifetime of experience to the music. Included in the booklet is the pianist's very substantial essay on the works and on the Russian Scriabin performing tradition.
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Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu:2021-11-28

Bruce Liu – Chopin

This release marks a renewed collaboration between Deutsche Grammophon and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. The recordings were made live during the various stages of the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition by Bruce Liu, newly crowned winner of the world’s most prestigious piano competition.
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HyeJin Kim:2021-11-27

Miroirs

On her debut solo album, pianist HyeJin Kim embarks on a journey of self-reflection. The solo-piano repertoire by Gershwin, Ravel, and Granados provides a deliberately intimate experience: "Very few everyday items are as laden with mysticism as mirrors. They are symbols not only of physical, but of spiritual reflection – showing the truth and nothing but the truth, albeit in a reverted manner."
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Leon McCawley:2021-11-25

Haydn – Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

The previous instalments of Leon McCawley's Haydn Sonata series have received much praise from the music press: "The music is being allowed to speak for its witty, turbulent, elegant or serene self." (BBC Music Magazine) "McCawley has a great deal to say in this music, and does so with eloquence and grace." (Gramophone)
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Vanessa Benelli Mosell:2021-11-22

Debussy – Preludes Book 2, Children's Corner

Vanessa Benelli Mosell devotes her new album entirely to Debussy – the colorful and forward-looking Second Book of Preludes; the charming suite Children's Corner, evoking the mood and essence of childhood and dedicated to the composer's three-year-old daughter; and the sparkling L'isle joyeuse (The joyful Island) inspired by Watteau's painting L'embarquement pour Cythère
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Saskia Giorgini:2021-11-20

Liszt – Harmonies poétiques et religieuses

Saskia Giorgini is fascinated by the humanity and sincerity of the Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses - a cycle that reveals something very different from the lazy cliché of Liszt the showman. "There is beauty so intense to cry for; tenderness, surrendering to God, but also some of the most sorrowful, violent, painful moments that Liszt ever put into music. It ends in an exalting declaration of love and deep gratitude to God and life."
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Florian Noack:2021-11-18

Lyapunov – 12 Transcendental Etudes

Florian Noack has always been attracted to anything with a folk character, and devoted his first recording for La Dolce Volta to an exploration of Europe through music from its various folk traditions. But it’s also what drew him to Lyapunov, who spent a lot of time collecting folksongs, and whose music is often coloured by modal tinges that evoke the various aspects of Russia.
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Avery Gagliano:2021-11-16

Reflections

This is the debut album of Avery Gagliano, First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 2020 US National Chopin Competition. Each piece on the disc is one she has learned and matured with throughout different stages of her life. Together, they carry the imprint of various important milestones of her journey as a pianist.
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Marcantonio Barone:2021-11-13

Crumb – Metamorphoses

At 92, George Crumb continues to produce important works.His most recent compositions have been two large piano suites, "Metamorphoses, Books 1 and 2", completed in 2019. Each book consists of ten movements, each of which is based on a famous painting by artists including Picasso, van Gogh, Chagall, Whistler, Gauguin, Dali, Klee, and Kandinsky.
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Inon Barnatan:2021-11-10

Time Traveler's Suite

Inon Barnatan's “Time Traveler’s Suite” slips effortlessly between centuries, and leaps just as easily through space. From Baroque pieces by Bach, Handel, Rameau and Couperin to more recent works by Ravel, Barber, Adès and Ligeti, the program forms a musical journey that highlights both the similarities and the innovations of its stops.
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Matthieu Idmtal:2021-11-08

Grieg - Piano Sonata & Lyric Pieces

Grieg's Piano Sonata op 7, belongs to the unfortunate group of somewhat forgotten piano sonatas. Nevertheless, it contains all the elements so characteristic of Grieg’s genius: long lyrical melody lines, passionate drama, intimate moments of respite, nimble dance rhythms, and grandiose outbursts. Matthieu Idmtal follows it up with a selection of the composer's beloved Lyric Pieces.
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