Grieg / Schumann: Piano Concertos in A min

"Lupu's clean boldness of approach to the first movement (of the Schumann) is appealingly fresh."
Gramophone

One of the first major triumphs for the Romanian pianist Radu Lupu was the winning in 1969 of the international piano competition at Leeds. Universally admired for his matchless artistry since that time, he has, however, fought shy of publicity and been especially selective in the number of performances he has given and recordings he has made; and this has resulted in each appearance on stage and each new recording being marked as a very special event.

Radu Lupu's Decca recordings commenced in 1970 (soon after the Leeds win) and have continued through to the present day. The number of recordings he has made is comparatively small and a large proportion of them are for solo piano. The few concerto recordings which he has made include the five Beethoven Piano Concertos, the Brahms First Piano Concerto, two Mozart Piano Concertos and this strong coupling of the Grieg and Schumann Piano Concertos-works which have remained amongst Lupu's most cherished favourites.

The Grieg/Schumann coupling dates from Lupu's earlier years with Decca (1973) and revealed a particularly inspired collaboration with André Previn. Radu Lupu's recording of Schubert's two sets of Impromptus were reissued in the initial Legends release on 460 975.

WHAT THE CRITICS HAD TO SAY
"The performance [of the Grieg] is a fine one; there is both warmth and poetry in the slow movement; the hushed opening is particularly telling. The orchestral contribution under Previn is a strong one ... Lupu's clean boldness of approach to the first movement [of the Schumann] is appealingly fresh" Gramophone

Extract from the sleeve notes by Bryce Morrison
Among the world's leading authorities on piano performance. An editorial board member of The International Piano Quarterly, he publishes and broadcasts extensively, is a regular jury member at international piano competitions, and teaches at the Royal Academy of Music.

Radu Lupu's performances show all of his classic strength and delicacy. Here is the art that conceals art, a musical "truth" of distillation that bypasses all preening and idiosyncrasy. Personal and engaging, he is nonetheless the least "personalised" of pianists. He takes his cue from such supreme classicists as Dinu Lipatti, rather than from those pianists of a still earlier generation who were inclined to use a composer's score as a springboard to excess, for whom the pianist came first and the composer a poor second. Lupu's approach is less self-serving. And while his performance of the Schumann Concerto may encourage one to dwell on detail at the expense of continuity and structure, it is impossible not to note the way the opening outburst achieves a special drama through a slight drop from fortissimo, followed by a crescendo through those two resounding sforzando chords. Few pianists have played the main theme with such tonal translucency, balancing each chord from the top, maintaining a faultless "line" and ending with the most gracefully tapered of phrases, all achieved without a trace of archness or pedantry.