With Katia and Marielle Labèque on fortepianos, the Concerto in C major for two harpsichords, strings and basso continuo (BWV 1061) by Johann Sebastian Bach is played here on period instruments by the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico under the baton of Giovanni Antonini. What is different here is that, instead of harpsichords, the Labèque sisters play fortepianos. The concert took place in 2000 at the Musikverein in Vienna.
00:00 I. without tempo designation 07:15 II. Adagio ovvero Largo 11:56 III. Fugue
The 13 concertos that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) wrote for one or more harpsichords with orchestral accompaniment are significant in music history. In a sense, they mark the beginning of the story of the piano concerto, which was then developed by the Bach sons. In almost all of the harpsichord concertos, Bach drew on his own earlier works and arranged them for this keyboard instrument, which was popular at the time. The harpsichord concertos were written for the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, a student orchestra that Bach led from 1723 and with which he held regular concerts in a coffee house.
The Concerto for two harpsichords, strings and basso continuo in C major, written between 1732 and 1735, was probably originally meant for two harpsichords only. This, at least, is suggested by the fact that the string orchestra has no independent role. In the first and third movements it only doubles the harpsichord part, in the middle movement the two keyboard instruments even play without accompaniment.
The special feature of this concerto is that Katia and Marielle Labèque play the harpsichord part on fortepianos. Thus, although the sound seems historical, it has a much sharper profile. A delight for the two virtuosic pianists!
The Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is binging Mozart. He's just released his second double album in a row of the composer's piano music, and for this very special Tiny Desk performance, he takes us inside Mozart's own home in Vienna, just steps away from the medieval St. Stephen's Cathedral and a couple blocks from a McDonald's.
Mozart might have appreciated the convenience of the fast food chain, as the years he spent in this two-floor, four-bedroom apartment (from 1784 to 1787) were a non-stop frenzy of activities. Andsnes says the composer threw gambling parties, taught students and, above all, composed some of his most groundbreaking music in this house, including the two works heard in this recital.
Andsnes begins with four minutes of radiant joy and virtuosity. The D major Rondo showcases not only Mozart's own skills as an unrivaled keyboardist, but also his genius as a composer with a bottomless bag of tricks to play with the music's principal theme.
The following Fantasia in C minor, composed one year earlier, in 1785, couldn't be more different. At three times the Rondo's length, it begins in a foreboding tone, with heavy, darkly colored chords, sounding perhaps like Beethoven in a bad mood. But the clouds soon open to rays of sunshine in melodies only Mozart could create, including a recurring passage of intense delicacy and yearning, which Andsnes delivers with the sensitivity of a lover's whisper. In its many fascinating mood swings, the piece feels like Mozart simply sat down in these rooms and improvised his mixed emotions. And thanks to Andsnes, we can catch a vibe of what that might have sounded like.
SET LIST Mozart: Rondo in D Major, K. 485 Mozart: Fantasia in C Minor, K. 475
MUSICIANS Leif Ove Andsnes: piano
CREDITS Video and audio: Anthony Jacobson, Perdurabo Film Recorded at: Mozarthaus Vienna
La pianiste Maria-João Pires s’associe à l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo pour donner au Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence un concert rythmé par la musique de Mozart, Mendelssohn et Schumann.
La pianiste d’origine portugaise Maria-João Pires est de retour à Aix-en-Provence pour y jouer le Concerto pour piano n° 9 en mi bémol majeur de Mozart. Grande connaisseuse du répertoire mozartien, la soliste livre sur la scène du Grand Théâtre de Provence une interprétation vive et épurée de cette œuvre célébrée dès sa création pour son inventivité.
Fidèle à l’esprit d’ouverture du Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence, ce concert fait également la part belle à la musique romantique. Sous la direction de Kazuki Yamada en effet, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo interprète l’ouverture du Songe d’une nuit d’été de Felix Mendelssohn et la Symphonie n° 1 en si bémol majeur de Robert Schumann.
Programme: Felix Mendelssohn - Ein Sommernachtstraum (Le Songe d’une nuit d’été), ouverture, op. 21 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto pour piano n° 9 en mi bémol majeur « Jeunehomme », K. 271 Robert Schumann - Symphonie n° 1 en si bémol majeur, « Le Printemps », op. 38
Concert filmé le 10 avril 2022 au Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence.
ARTE Concert invite à son Piano Day le jeune virtuose Alexandre Kantorow. Ce dernier en profite pour livrer une interprétation vibrante de Saint-Saëns et de Liszt.
Alexandre Kantorow est un pianiste surdoué. Fils de musiciens, il commence à jouer à 5 ans, remporte les premiers prix des concours qu’il passe dès 13 ans, devient concertiste pour les Folles Journées de Nantes et de Varsovie à 16. Rien d’étonnant donc à ce que, du haut de ses 23 ans, Alexandre Kantorow ne compte déjà plus ses trophées. Premier pianiste français à obtenir la médaille d’or du prestigieux Concours Tchaïkovski, il a notamment remporté en 2020 deux Victoires de la Musique Classique : enregistrement de l’année (pour les concertos n°3, 4 et 5 de Saint-Saëns) et soliste instrumental de l’année. Adoubé par la presse, le pianiste voit chaque sortie d’album accompagnée des plus grandes récompenses. Alexandre Kantorow, en plus de nourrir une réelle passion pour Brahms, manifeste aussi un grand intérêt pour la musique contemporaine. Plusieurs compositeurs ont d’ailleurs déjà écrit pour lui. Pianiste tout-terrain, il livre aujourd’hui pour vous une interprétation puissante et habitée de Saint-Saëns et de Liszt.
Bob Boilen | March 9, 2022 It’s less a concert and more witnessing a master thoughtfully creating an atmosphere, a vibe. And for 13 short minutes, I feel seated in Abdullah Ibrahim’s home in Chiemgau, Germany, witnessing seven decades of experience slowly dripping from his fingers and touching my soul.
Abdullah Ibrahim, now 87, has witnessed the horrors of apartheid. He grew up in South Africa and composed what would become known as the “anti-apartheid anthem,” “Mannenberg.” Nelson Mandela called him “our Mozart.” He also successfully made music under the name Dollar Brand, and worked with jazz legends including Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Don Cherry and Archie Shepp. In 1968, he converted to Islam and changed his name from Dollar Brand; more recently, he became an NEA Jazz Master. In my 18 years directing All Things Considered, I’d often reach for his music to play between news stories to give the audience a chance to think and reflect. His music is like that; it’s mind-opening.
And here he is seated at his piano, his white hair luminous, his fingers delicate, while he reflects on the past and helps clarify the present. The music is from his newest album Solotude, a recording made to an empty concert hall in southeast Germany during the 2020 lockdown, which for me became a source of calm when it was released toward the end of 2021. To witness this Tiny Desk (home) concert, I suggest you take these next 13 minutes, turn off your distractions and discover the strength in delicate reflection from a gentle man who has some much to share.
SET LIST “Blue Bolero” “Signal On The Hill” “Once Upon A Midnight”
MUSICIANS Abdullah Ibrahim: piano
CREDITS Director / Director of Photography: Tobias Corts Sound Engineer / Edit / Grading: Florian Epple
TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Bob Boilen Video Producer: Joshua Bryant Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin Tiny Production Team: Bobby Carter, Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Ashley Pointer Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
Daniil Trifonov is intrigued by Bach’s attempts to base the work on the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio, but observes that the result is “far more than a scientific experiment: as always with Bach, he managed to make music of indescribable beauty and emotion”. Trifonov’s imaginative interpretation captures the sense of the work as a cycle, treating it as a living, organic whole. This chimes with the inspiration he takes from spending time in nature, whether hiking or practising Qigong, a form of meditation that values the healing energy of trees. “And the tree is a good metaphor for The Art of Fugue’s overall structure,” he notes. “The theme is the trunk, the fugues are the branches, all the permutations within each fugue are the leaves…”
Bach did not live to finish The Art of Fugue’s final contrapunctus, and a number of musicians have attempted conjectural completions. For this recording, Trifonov, himself an accomplished composer, has created a seamless, stylistically respectful conclusion worthy of Bach’s genius. It reflects the extent to which he has absorbed and internalised every nook and cranny of Bach’s valedictory masterpiece.
Maria João Pires & Júlio Resende “From Classical Music to Jazz”
"A simply sublime concert. Maria João played Schumann, Chopin, Scarlatti, Bartok, Schubert and Bach, then Júlio Resende improvised from these authors and the fado songbook and created everything on the spot. Either I'm very wrong or these "Dialogues" will run out. world".
Thus, a testimony was made about the first concert of this new project by Maria João Pires and Júlio Resende.
Maria João Pires plays wonderful interpretations of the notes that have already been written by the great composers and that she transcends in each performance, while Júlio Resende, in order to play and seek to transcend himself, needs that no note is already written, so that there is the freedom to write in the moment, in full flight, to improvise, to take risks, to create something unique that will only be heard this time by the audience present and that will never be repeated.
This concert is an amazing adventure that began in December 2019 when Maria João Pires and Júlio Resende performed together in a single, almost private show in Belgais, in which the creative spirits of both artists converged.
On a single piano, each of the artists will occupy their space in turn, as if it were a ballet, a wandering conversation in which each gives space to the other to say what they feel, a constant musical dialogue, where the composition, the improvisation, fantasy, inspiration – essential elements in pianists' performance – form a unique and daring concert. If the pandemic forced them to cancel plans to continue a World Tour of this project as early as 2020, the rare opportunity finally arrives where we will be able to listen to them. And as we've already noticed, in life all opportunities are important. Let us listen then, almost surreptitiously, attentive,... to this Dialogue.
Dmitri Shostakovich Prelúdios e Fugas, Op.87, Livro I Tatiana Nikoayeva, piano
00:07 1. em Dó maior Moderato - Moderato 05:07 2. em lá menor Allegro - Allegretto 07:37 3. em Sol maior Moderato non troppo - Allegro molto 11:52 4. em Mi menor Andante - Adagio 20:22 5. em Ré maior Allegretto - Allegretto 24:11 6. em Si menor Allegretto - Moderato 32:44 7. em A major Allegretto poco moderato - Allegretto 36:29 8. em Fá sustenido menor Allegretto - Andante 44:37 9. em Mi maior Moderato non troppo - Allegro 48:50 10. em dó sustenido menor Allegro - Moderato Ausente por razões de direitos autorais: 11. em B maior Allegro - Allegro 55:41 12. em Sol sustenido menor Andante - Allegro