Op 23 juli vierde Maria João Pires haar zeventigste verjaardag. Dat wordt niet alleen groots gevierd door Deutsche Grammophon, het label waarbij zijn in 1989 tekende, maar ook door Erato. Erato pikte Pires op nadat zij in 1970 de Internationale Beethoven Bicentennial Wedstrijd in Brussel won. Waar Deutsche Grammophon met twee lijvige boxen komt, de eerste met solo-opnames, volgend jaar gevolgd door opnames met orkest, biedt The Complete Erato Recording beide. Drie concerten van Bach, beide pianoconcerten van Chopin en maar liefst zes cd’s met Mozart-concerten. Hoewel zij de Chopin-concerten later nogmaals (en beter) heeft opgenomen, is ook hier hoorbaar hoe fabelachtig Pires’ techniek is, wars van loze virtuositeit. Hetzelfde geldt voor een genereuze selectie Beethoven-sonates en de solostukken van Chopin – die ze eveneens later nogmaals heeft opgenomen. Bijzondere vermelding verdienen zeker de stukken voor vier handen van Schubert, opgenomen met Huseyin Sermet, en Schumanns Kinderszenen. De opnames zijn niet opgepoetst, waardoor sommige wat droog klinken, maar de kwaliteit van het gebodene staat buiten kijf.
Maria João Pires: The Complete Erato Recordings
Bach, J S:
Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV1052
Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A major, BWV1055
Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV1056
Gulbenkian Orchestra, Michel Corboz
Beethoven:
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 'Appassionata'
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 'Tempest'
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight'
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique'
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Chopin:
Preludes (24), Op. 28
Prelude Op. 45 in C sharp minor (No. 25)
Krakowiak - Concert Rondo in F, Op. 14
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte Carlo, Armin Jordan
Waltzes Nos. 1-14
Mozart:
Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K271 "Jeunehomme"
Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K453
Rondo for Piano & Orchestra in D major, K382
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467 'Elvira Madigan'
Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K537 'Coronation'
Rondo for Piano & Orchestra in A major, K386
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488
Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K415
Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat major, K449
Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K414
Rondo in A minor, K511
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466
Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K595
Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, Armin Jordan
Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major, K246 "Lützow"
Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K595
I Solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone
Piano Sonata No. 6 in D, K284 "Dürnitz"
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K457
Fantasia in C minor, K475
Schubert:
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D960
4 Impromptus, D899
Piano Sonata No. 18 in G major, D894
Fantasie in F minor for piano duet, D940
with Hüseyin Sermet (piano)
Marches Militaires (3), D733
Rondo for piano duet in D major, D608
Rondo for piano duet in A major, D951
German Dance (with two trios and two ländler) D618, No. 1
German Dance (with two trios and two ländler) D618, No. 2
with Hüseyin Sermet (piano)
Schumann:
Kinderszenen, Op. 15
Waldszenen, Op. 82
Bunte Blätter, Op. 99
Maria João Pires (piano)
Maria João Pires “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin,” wrote Gramophone in 1974. “She conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole ... Best of all, she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.” This Portuguese pupil of Wilhelm Kempff, Pires was one of the artists who defined the Erato label in the 1970s and 1980s.
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.
In 1974, Gramophone welcomed her (in Mozart) as a pianist who “shapes and colours every phrase, and with immaculate taste, and she makes sure the phrases end as eloquently as they begin ... she gets beneath the music’s surface and conveys not just the details but the relevance of every note to the whole ... Best of all, in the moment of performance she communicates everything she has discovered about the music, and it is worth having.”
After initial studies at the Lisbon Conservatory, Maria João Pires moved to Germany where her teachers included the great Wilhelm Kempff and the man who became her mentor: the Swiss-born pianist Karl Engel, a pupil of Alfred Cortot and well known as an accompanist to singers. In 1970, she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels, which brought her to international attention. Over the years she has become recognised as a pianist in the line of such great figures as Kempff, Edwin Fischer and Clara Haskil – musicians valued by connoisseurs for favouring clarity and putting the composer and his music first, rather than drawing attention to themselves.
The Penguin Guide wrote that “She strikes an ideal balance between poise and expressive sensibility, conveying a sense of spontaneity in everything she does, while in a 2012 interview Pires summed up her philosophy as a musician: “Learning music is learning about life. You don’t learn how to play an instrument without learning how to discover music through yourself. Your relationship to the outside world is very important.” Speaking to Gramophone in 1996, she said: a concert should allow one to experience some kind of emotion ... to dream ... Life is so short – we should try to live things more intensely.”
Seeing her performing career as just one part of her life, Pires has never been hungry for publicity and fame; her family is very important to her and for several years she ran a music education centre on her farm in Portugal.
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).
