Prokofiev / Bartok: Piano Concertos [CD plus DVD documentary]

Prokofiev / Bartok: Piano Concertos [CD plus DVD documentary] cover $35.00 Low Stock add to cart

SERGEI PROKOFIEV / BELA BARTOK
Prokofiev / Bartok: Piano Concertos [CD plus DVD documentary]
Lang Lang (piano) / Berlin Philharmonic, Simon Rattle

[ Sony Classics / 2 CD/DVD ]

Release Date: Sunday 1 December 2013

Should this item be out of stock at the time of your order, we would expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks.

CD/DVD Combo

Lang Lang's first concerto album on the Sony label unites the world's greatest International music stars: Lang Lang, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This highly awaited collaboration resulted in a recording which will mark one of this year's most important core classical releases in the music industry.

Recorded at Berlin's Philharmonie, the album presents two mile stones of the 20th century piano literature: Prokofiev's explosive Piano Concerto No. 3, (one of the great show stoppers in the concert literature), and the Bartók Concerto Nr. 2, probably the most technically challenging piece ever written for piano and orchestra.

Comes in luxuriously designed photo-loaded deluxe packaging.

An up-close and highly personal TV documentary (Working Title: "At the Highest Level") will accompany the release. The film will give an exclusive insight into processes that are normally hidden: the preparations of the musicians, the recordings at the Philharmonie in Berlin and the struggle to get the best sound, as well as the post-production phase.

Produced by award winning company BFMI (Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images) and directed by Christian Berger the 60" TV documentary "The Highest Level" gives an exclusive insight into processes that are normally hidden: the preparations of the musicians, the recordings at the Philharmonie in Berlin and the struggle to get the best sound, as well as the post-production phase. The viewer gets unusually close to the stars of the film.

"Immediately [the Prokofiev] explodes into life with Lang Lang's sparkling playing with seemingly boundless reserves of energy...Outstanding in the opening [of the Bartók] is Lang Lang's rhythmic potency borders on the demonic...Under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle the Berliner Philharmoniker is highly persuasive and sympathetic. Not for the first time the woodwind excel - marvellous." (musicWeb)

"this is a performance [of the Prokofiev] that glides by, impeccably beautiful and fleet, yet a trifle short of character. Still, Lang Lang's easy virtuosity is delicious; so is the absence of keyboard thumping...[the Bartok] offers genuine bite, whether from Lang Lang's fingers or the bracing snarl of the Berlin brass." (Times)

"Lang Lang has the necessary power and athleticism to bring tremendous energy and drive to [Prokofiev's] more motoric writing...[he] sails through the passagework [of the Bartok] with exemplary clarity...The problem in the outer movements rests with the pianist's tendency to make everything sound harsh and percussive" (BBC)

Tracks:

Bartók:
Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101, Sz. 95

Prokofiev:
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26