Last year, Grand Piano released pianist Carl Petersson’s world première recording of Helge Evju’s Piano Concerto in B minor based on fragments by Edvard Grieg. Grieg never finished his second piano concerto, which was finally reconstructed and completed by Evju. The CD was critically acclaimed, with American Record Guide describing the B minor concerto as “a cunningly shrewd work, very entertaining, and well worth the attention of pianophiles.” Gramophone also praised the album, stating “[the B minor concerto] makes the disc appealing…played with commanding virtuosity by Petersson.”
Carl Petersson gave the U.S. première of Evju’s B minor concerto on 19 November, with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of renowned conductor JoAnn Falletta.
“The re-imagined Grieg came next. The crowd loved it. Evju did an admirable job of weaving the fragments together, adding a few ideas of his own and also drawing inspiration from other Grieg works. He is clearly a fine orchestrator and created a full, resonant Romantic sound. Petersson played from memory, showing his commitment to this piece. He danced his way through the elaborate piano part with a captivating grace…the concerto is an impressive achievement, and a joy to listen to. For anyone attending the Nov. 12 concert, my advice would be: don’t sweat the details, just sit back and enjoy.’
– The Buffalo News
“The Buffalo Philharmonic and I had the wonderful privilege of performing the USA premier of Helge Evju's beautiful "re-imagining" of Edvard Grieg's second piano concerto with pianist Carl Petersson. Grieg did not complete this concerto, but Maestro Evju was able to take his precious sketches and build upon them to create this beautiful work. Filled with poetry, lyricism and grandeur, the work summoned the spirit of Grieg into the concert hall, and absolutely enchanted our audience.”
– JoAnn Falletta
“It certainly was something special to perform with the great JoAnn Falletta and her Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Without any doubt the concert was magical... This was not only confirmed by the press and critics but especially the audience that gave us all a standing ovation - twice. The more I perform this piano concerto I find more and more hidden depths and I hope to be able to perform this hidden gem by Evju many more times.”
– Carl Petersson
Over the course of 12 hours, beginning in the evening of 1 October, NICOLAS HORVATH presented the complete piano works of Philip Glass in chronological order at one of his famous epic recital marathons at the Philharmonie de Paris. This was a touching tribute from one pianist to another, conveying Horvath’s deep regard for the works of one of the most influential musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The whole recital was capped by an hour of standing ovation, and nine encores from Nicolas, which includes works by Glass (Etudes, etc.), Satie (Gnossienne 1& 3), Jaan Rääts (Radio 4), and Scriabin (Vers la Flamme).
The fifth volume in our series of Philip Glass' piano works on Grand Piano was released this month (GP745). The programme includes Mad Rush, the revised version of Metamorphosis II, 600 Lines, and an arrangement of the Simon and Garfunkel hit The Sound of Silence.
Pianist Josu De Solaun, winner of the 2014 Enescu International Piano Competition who is releasing a three-volume cycle of George Enescu's complete works for solo piano on Grand Piano, was recently featured on the cover of the Jul-Aug 2016 issue of Spanish music magazine Ritmo. In addition to an in-depth interview with Josu, the magazine gave the first volume of the Enescu cycle four stars, describing the recording as “a deep and hard endeavour, not only playing them in concerts but also doing a deep and strong research of the composer’s manuscripts. In addition to the great work of the sound engineer, Jorge Luis García Bastidas, we find the fine Shigeru Kawai instrument, and the wonderful Palau de la Música de Valencia concert hall. I assure you that the results of this album are amazing.”
Josu will be having a solo recital on September 24 at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, during the XXII George Enescu Festival.
For tickets: concurs.festivalenescu.ro/events/2016-competition/recital-josu-de-solaun/
About the artist:
Pianist JOSU DE SOLAUN is a First Prize winner of the XIII George Enescu International Piano Competition in Bucharest (previous winners include the legendary pianists Radu Lupu and Elisabeth Leonskaja) and the XV José Iturbi International Piano Competition. He has been invited to perform in distinguished concert series throughout the world, having made notable appearances in Bucharest (Romanian Athenaeum), St Petersburg (Mariinsky Theatre), Washington DC (Kennedy Center), New York (Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera), London (Southbank Centre), Paris (Salle Cortot), Mexico City (Sala Silvestre Revueltas), and all major cities of Spain.
Grand Piano has gained a reputation for producing high quality recordings of rare keyboard gems. Dedicated to the exploration of undiscovered piano repertoire, the label specialises in complete cycles of piano works by many lesser-known composers, whose output might otherwise have remained unknown and unrecorded.
- info@grandpianorecords.com
