Featured artists:
Michel Corboz, Armin Jordan, Claudio Scimone, Théodor Guschlbauer, I Solisti Veneti
With her refined, honest artistry, the Portugese pianist Maria João Pires – who turns 70 in July 2014 – was one of the musicians who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s. This 17-CD box gathers together all the recordings she made over the period from 1972 to 1987 and it reflects the consistent focus of her repertoire, with its special emphasis on Austro-German composers of the Classical and early-Romantic periods. Embracing solo works, piano duets and concertos, it contains works by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, but also by Bach and Chopin.
Pires’ partners on these classic Erato recordings include the Turkish pianist Hüseyin Sermet (in duets by Schubert) and the conductors Michel Corboz, Armin Jordan, Claudio Scimone and Theodor Guschlbauer. A number of items in the collection (which features the original LP/CD artwork on the individual CD slipcases) have never before been released on CD on Europe: Beethoven, Sonatas op 109 and 110; Chopin, Préludes and Krakowiak; Mozart Concertos Nos. 8 & 27 (with Claudio Scimone conducting I Solisti Veneti).
