Monday 1 August 2011

Various Composers - Favourite Piano Encores [Buchbinder]

A lovely recital with 15 famous piano pieces, a nice varied selection too, concentrating on the Classical / Romantic era, with 68 minutes of music it's quite generous too, Buchbinder isn't a phenomenally recorded Artist, certainly his Brahms Piano Concertos with Harnoncourt are quite celebrated, but otherwise he's fairly unknown, but i like him.

Rudolf Buchbinder is Austrian, born in 1946, making him 64 today, i think this recital was recorded in 1985, the booklet front cover picture is nice, i guess using a medium telephoto, as it nicely blurs the background, making Buchbinder stand out.

Two tracks really stood out, tracks 3 & 14, here's a synopsis of each,
3 Mozart - Alla Turca, this is the last movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata 11, but it's taken on a life of its own without its two companions, it certainly has a mazurka dance feel to it, and i certainly like the Satie-esque 'Gnossien' offbeat rhythms [0:05+ & 0:13+], there's almost a chorus-like forte explosion [0:51-1:07], and then rippling notes in the treble, themes come and go in rotation [the whole point of a Rondo], the ending is exceptionally inspired, the forte offbeat rhythms come back [3:03-3:19], but now they end in a superb resolution chant [3:19-3:52], so satisfying, a real culmination, i especially like the quieter middle refrain here [3:31-3:38], with the left hand nicely motoring away, a superb piece by Mozart.
14 Chopin - Nocturne 2