Mitsuko Uchida, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle – Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 (2010/2019) [3x SACD]
SACD Rip | 3xSACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 03:01:35 min | Scans incl. | 10,63 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings – BPHR 180243
There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension.
The complete recording of all five works with Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Simon Rattle was one of the most spectacular projects of the Berliner Philharmoniker during the Rattle era – and at the same time the highlight of the collaboration between the orchestra and the pianist, which began in 1984.
The performances were given a rapturous reception in the auditorium and in the press – as one critic wrote, the audience was overwhelmed by a “collective sense of happiness”. With vibrant freshness, the performances brought the whole combative energy of these works to life. At the same time, they revealed Beethoven’s incomparable spirituality, which – according to Mitsuko Uchida – “allows us to see to the end of the universe”.
Mitsuko Uchida – Schumann: G Minor Sonata; Waldszenen; Gesänge der Frühe (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:57 minutes | 1006 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Dame Mitsuko Uchida, universally acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost Schumann interpreters, follows her last album of the composer’s music (Davidsbündlertänze and Fantasie in C) with another sublime Schumann programme. Uchida’s latest Decca recording brings together the romantic fire and intensity of the Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor Op. 22 with two remarkable works from Schumann’s final years, Waldszenen and the Gesänge der Frühe.
Her album’s repertoire explores music created by an artist burdened by deep depression and mental illness. His Gesänge der Frühe (“Songs of Dawn”) were sketched within the space of four days in February 1854, shortly before Schumann attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself in the Rhine. The work proved to be his last complete piano composition.
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Mitsuko Uchida – Beethoven: Diabelli Variations (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 58:51 minutes | 1,83 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
The late Beethoven recordings of pianist Mitsuko Uchida have been career makers, and it is cause for celebration that she has capped them with the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work that perhaps poses deeper interpretive challenges than any of the late sonatas. The Variations often show a kind of rough humor, and a performer may pick up on that, or the player may deemphasize the humor and seek out the epic qualities of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, and Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Uchida does neither. The outlines of her usual style, high-contrast and a bit dry, are apparent, but she does not let them dominate her reading. What Uchida realizes is that the abrupt transition from humor to the deepest existential ruminations is part and parcel of Beethoven’s late style, and she works to hone the particular character of each Beethoven variation. Her left hand, as usual, is strikingly powerful, and this brings out many striking details (consider the stirring variation 16). The trio of slow minor variations toward the end are given great seriousness but are not in the least overwrought; Uchida achieves an elusive Olympian tone through the final variations. There is much more to experience here, for each variation is fully thought out, but suffice it to say that this is one of the great performances of the Diabelli Variations.
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Mitsuko Uchida, Mark Steinberg – Mozart: Sonatas For Piano & Violin (2005/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:33 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
In perusing CDs of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin, a lot can be guessed in advance by noticing which performer is featured prominently, and who is relegated to second place. In these sonatas the violin is minimized to an obbligato accompaniment. Legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida is clearly the dominant partner, and rising violinist Mark Steinberg is only her deferential sidekick. The usual problems of balance between the piano and violin are exacerbated by such a lopsided pairing, and it is inevitable that Uchida’s interesting interpretations, refined expression, and impeccable execution will outshine Steinberg’s efforts; no matter how desperately he tries to get on an equal footing with her, he must fail. As it happens, his playing eventually becomes an annoyance, little more than a doubling or elaboration of the melodic line, with little independence of thought, expression, attack, or color. Strangely, one wishes to hear Uchida’s playing unadorned, without the chattering fiddling going on beside her, but this is just further evidence that this duo is mismatched. The sound quality is decent, except that the highly resonant acoustics emphasize the piano to the violin’s further detriment.
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Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle, Mitsuko Uchida – Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 03:01:29 minutes | 1,68 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension.
(more…)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Concertos Nos.17 & 25 – Mitsuko Uchida, The Cleveland orchestra (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 1:07:18 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: | © Decca
Arguably the world’s greatest Mozart interpreter plays and conducts two of his most popular piano concerti.
“Superior Mozart Pianist” Mitsuko Uchida (Chicago Tribune) concludes her Grammy Award winning series of Mozart Piano Concerto recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra.
This fifth and final instalment of the series includes two of the composers greatest works.
This new recording has her directing the orchestra from the piano herself, in the manner of which 18th century audiences might have been accustomed.
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Schumann: Liederkreis; Frauenliebe und Leben / Berg: Sieben fruhe Lieder – Dorothea Roschmann, Mitsuko Uchida (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:27 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Source:Q0buz | Digital Booklet , Front cover | @ Decca
Recorded: Wigmore Hall, London, 2 & 5 May 2015
Two great artists at the peak of their powers, the soprano Dorothea Röschmann and the pianist Dame Mitsuko Uchida perform songs by Schumann (Liederkreis, Op 39 and Frauenliebe und Leben) and Alban Berg (Seven Early Songs).
The album features the three great cycles on the subject of love and life and Schumann’s great love for Clara Wieck is at the heart of Liederkreis, songs he described in a letter to her as his “most romantic music ever, with much of you in it.”
The artists toured this programme extensively and this performance was captured live at Wigmore Hall. The reviews were glowing and this programme of songs about love touched the hearts of the audience wherever it was performed.
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Franz Schubert – Piano Sonata D568; 6 Moments musicaux – Mitsuko Uchida (2001)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:07:32 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | @ Decca
Recorded: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, August 2001
This is the penultimate issue in Mitsuko Uchida’s eight-album series, and thanks to her magical recreation of the E flat Sonata I’m already inclined to regard it as one of the best. Let me not make an exaggerated claim for the piece: it comes near the beginning of Schubert’s 12 completed piano sonatas, and the later ones are of course played more often because they’re greater. But this one is an enchantment, and weighing in at 31 minutes, as it does here, it sits proudly as the first of his grand four-movement sonatas, fully achieved and characteristic, purposeful and confident in the space it makes for itself.
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Various Artists – Super Audio CD Best Sound Selection (2008)
DFF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:03:05 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Stereo Sound – SSRR1
待望の柳沢功力氏選曲・構成「ステレオサウンド・リファレンスSACD」
柳沢功力氏の選曲・構成によるステレオサウンド・リファレンス・レコードが、SACD、CD両対応のハイブリッド・ディスクで遂に登場。ドイツ・グラモフォン、デッカ、フィリップス、アルヒーフ等、クラシックの名門レーベルを多数擁するユニバーサルミュージックの全面協力により、これらのレーベルをまたいでの選曲が実現。
カルロス・クライバーの指揮するアナログ録音の椿姫をはじめ、PCM録音によるブーレーズ指揮のマーラー、ゲルギエフ指揮のベルリオーズ、DSD録音による内田光子の弾くシューベルトのピアノ曲、諏訪内晶子の弾くラロのヴァイオリン曲など、世界最高峰の演奏家の優秀録音曲を、ヨーロッパ本国でマスタリングを行なって収録。さらには、このリファレンスレコードのためだけに、フォン・オッターによる歌曲とハーゲン弦楽四重奏団のバルトークをDSDマスタリングしてSACD化。この2曲をSACDで聴くことができるのは、世界中で本盤のみ。柳沢氏によるトラックごとの試聴ポイントも必読の、まさにオーディオファイル必聴のディスク。
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Gabriel Le Magadure, Frank Braley, Quatuor Agate – Chausson – Lekeu (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:35 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Appassionato, le label
Formed in 2016, the Quatuor Agate derives its name from one of the most beautiful chamber music pieces, Johannes Brahms’s Second Sextet, dedicated to his second love, Agathe von Siebold.
Seven years later, this fascination with Brahms materialized with the release of their debut album on February 23 2024, featuring the complete String Quartets under Appassionato, le label.
A few weeks after the quartet’s inception, they embarked on their first venture—the creation of the CorsiClassic festival, an annual event in Ajaccio, Corsica. The festival’s mission is to bring chamber music to diverse audiences.
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Igor Levit – Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:09:08 minutes | 1,87 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Igor Levit has recently given highly acclaimed debuts in major musical centres across Europe and is being hailed by international critics as one of the most outstanding pianists of our time. Levit is a BBC Young Generation Artist and currently features in the “ECHO Rising Star” program of the European Concert House Organization. Not just another young aspiring pianist releasing his debut album, he is an outstanding artist who meets the exceptionally high technical and interpretative demands of this extraordinary repertoire. Despite his young age, Levit’s interpretations display a rare depth and maturity, making for extremely well-balanced renderings on an artistic level of the great piano masters of our age. The Russian-German pianist performs one of the largest chunks of piano repertoire – Beethoven much-revered five late sonatas opp. 101, 106 and 109–111. Here, Beethoven’s late piano sonatas can be discovered in a most natural & tonally beautiful way. Written between 1816 – 1822 when the composer was completely deaf, Beethoven’s last sonatas are highly subjective artistic and personal confessions. The sonatas constitute one of the cornerstones of Beethoven’s mysterious late style next to the five last quartets.
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Igor Levit
Mark Padmore – Schubert: Schwanengesang (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:11:21 minutes | 2,41 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Two masterful Schubert interpreters, tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Mitsuko Uchida record Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Beethoven’s ‘An Die Ferne Geliebte’ for the first time. With a lifetime of experience with this music, Uchida and Padmore are the perfect duo to interpret this magnificent repertoire.
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Gabriele Carcano – Schumann: Humoreske – Davidsbündlertänze (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:17:44 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RUBICON
2010 recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award, Italian pianist Gabriele Carcarno has studied under Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and Alfred Brendel. Brendel worked closely with Carcano on the preparation of this all Schumann program, which features the Humoreske and Davidsbuündleränze. A young pianist of extraordinary talent, Carcano’s 2016 debut album on Oehms Classics was highly praised by BBC Music Magazine, Radio 3 Record Review and Fonoforum and received a Supersonic award from Pizzicato magazine.
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Stefan Askenase – Stefan Askenase Plays the Most Beautiful Nocturnes (Remastered 2022) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:36 minutes | 829 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archipel
Stefan Askenase (* 10. Juli 1896 in Lemberg, Galizien, Österreich-Ungarn, heute Ukraine; † 18. Oktober 1985 in Bonn) war ein belgisch-polnischer Pianist.
Askenase wurde in Lwiw (Lemberg) in eine jüdische Familie geboren. Nach erstem Klavierunterricht durch seine Mutter (eine Studentin des Chopin-Schülers Karol von Mikuli) und durch Theodor Pollak war Stefan Askenase 1914/15 Schüler des Liszt-Schülers Emil von Sauer am Konservatorium Wien, später lehrte ihn Joseph Marx. Von 1916 bis 1918 nahm er am Ersten Weltkrieg teil, danach leitete er das Opernhaus von Lemberg. 1919 debütierte er in Wien, 1922 übernahm er eine Professur am Konservatorium in Kairo. Ab 1925 lebte er in Brüssel und widmete sich seiner 60 Jahre dauernden weltweiten Konzerttätigkeit. Von 1937 bis 1939 lehrte er am Konservatorium Rotterdam, von 1957 bis 1961 am Brüsseler Konservatorium. 1966 siedelte er nach Bonn über.
Berühmt für seine Interpretationen der Werke Chopins, hatte er ebenfalls besonderen Bezug zu Bach, Mozart und Haydn. In den 1950er Jahren nahm er zahlreiche Werke Chopins für die Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft auf.
Zu seinen Schülern gehörten u. a. Martha Argerich, László Gyimesi, John McKay, Sontraud Speidel, André Tchaikowsky und Mitsuko Uchida.
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Title: Mariss Jansons Conducts Beethoven & Strauss
Release Date: 2011
Genre: Classical
Conductor: Mariss Jansons
Performers: Mitsuko Uchida, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Production/Label: Arthaus Musik, BR Klassik
Duration: 44:59 + 50:02
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video 21447 kbps 1080i / 29.970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 / 48 kHz / 3338 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM Audio 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Korean, Japanese
Size: 20,17 GB
Presumably taking his cue from Ein Heldenleben, the author of the program notes makes a big deal of the concept of the hero in music. The connection with Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto is more nebulous. Yes, the music is generally heroic in a Beethovenian sense, but it does not have a program about a hero. In that context, Mitsuko Uchida is an elite pianist who hardly takes a heroic approach to Beethoven. Despite an unexpectedly forceful entry in the first movement, Uchida’s style quickly emerges to the forefront. Her playing has been correctly described as elegant, refined, transparent, poetic, controlled, and relatively laid back. As a specialist in Mozart and Beethoven, she leans toward the classical side of Beethoven, and that approach is very refreshing. There is also no lack of power when absolutely necessary, but it is invariably applied with restraint. Anyone who thinks that Uchida lacks gravitas for big Beethoven should listen to the Largo. Mariss Jansons is in complete accord with her approach.
Jansons launches Ein Heldenleben at a nearly ideal middle-of-the-road tempo, but then seems to run out of energy in the middle of the first section before recovering at the end. The clattering woodwinds and brass in “The Hero’s Adversaries” are outstanding. Concertmaster Anton Barachovsky’s seductively sweet tone is mesmerizing in “The Hero’s Companion” and the ending. The climaxes in “The Hero’s Companion” are absolutely ravishing. Jansons’s tempo in “The Hero’s Battlefield” is fairly expansive, but I really like it because it gives him the chance to bring out some incredible instrumental detail and unashamedly highlight Strauss’s gorgeous sound world, as he shows off the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s amazing brass section. The ending with its violin and French horn solos is stunning, and Barachovsky gets his deserved ovation.
As I heard the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra play this music, I could only think that this is undoubtedly one of the greatest orchestras in the world, and the best in terms of precise ensemble. I feared that Jansons might be ill at ease with Strauss’s florid romanticism, but he doesn’t shy away from it at all. It is interesting to see Jansons sometimes pull in his baton as if to just let the orchestra go and do its thing.
Technically, the picture and sound (PCM stereo and DTS 5.0 surround) are all that you would expect from a Blu-ray disc. I have no major problems with the visual direction as it alternates between various close-ups and distant shots, except perhaps that some of the extreme close-ups of Uchida and Jansons seem to be almost intrusive.
Don’t miss this if you are interested in hearing a great orchestra make music that is outstanding in every conceivable way. (more…)