Scandale

". . . enjoy these dance pieces at face value, the performances and recording of which are terrific . . . the sections of motoric rhythm in [Stravinsky's] two-piano version of "The Rite" seem made for the percussive character of the instrument, while some of the slower passages reveal more so than in their original garb the challenging harmonic language that so provoked the first audiences . . . ["The Kalender Prince"] provides lyrical contrast before "La valse", deftly, brilliantly executed, the final pages [dogged and relentless] . . . The final Piece is the world premier of Tristano's "A Soft Shell Groove" which, with its foot-tapping (literally) rhythm, is bound to find many friends among listeners and other two-piano teams."  --Gramophone, July 2014

"A glintingly percussive "Rite of Spring" . . . Ravel's "La valse" is technically impressive . . . poetry is again at a premium." --BBC Music Magazine, July 2014

Alice Sara Ott (piano) & Francesco Tristano (piano)

For her new recording rising star Alice Sara Ott teams up with Francesco Tristano, who is a guarantor for highly innovative projects.

Fascinated from the idea of Ballets Russes their challenging programme for two pianos centers upon Stravinsky’s extremely rhythmic and avant-garde score of “The rite of spring”, the crowning success de scandale of Ballets Russes and includes the catchy tune of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade”.

The album features an exciting new composition by Francesco Tristano himself "A soft shell groove", which has never been recorded before.

No ballet company influenced the 20th-century intellectual world as did Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, with its signature conceptualization of dance, music and the fine arts as equal partners in a unified art form.

Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes became one of the most influential ballet companies of the 20th century, in part because of its ground-breaking artistic collaboration among contemporary choreographers, composers, artists, and dancers.

Piano Music

“Sensational. Unique. In a realm all their own. Now words are really apt here...The most obvious feature of the playing here is the artist's unfettered imagination - a currently unfashionable commodity. In the end though, this is the least of it. Pletnev simply sees in the score essentials which most musicians miss.” --BBC Musi Magazine, January 2014

“The long line is Pletnev's starting point. However undulant he feels it need be, however delicate or powerful he feels it need be, it is always an integral part of the form and rhythm of a piece...the kind of musicianship that makes the odd foible irrelevant, even meaningless.” --Gamophone, January 2014

A treat for fans of Pletnev the pianist and piano enthusiasts. Recorded in single takes in between sessions for other recordings but with the red light left on, these performances capture one the great pianists of our time simply playing for himself. Never before released, the performances and recordings have been approved by Mikhail Pletnev for release.

The Beethoven sonata is a work he has not recorded before, and the Bach/Busoni Chaconne recording pre-dates his famous ‘Live from Carnegie Hall’ album. The Schubert Impromptus were recorded at Rachmaninov’s villa in Switzerland on the composer’s own Steinway. This CD allows us to eavesdrop on a great artist playing for pleasure – for himself whilst the recording technicians busied themselves with the ‘official’ recording. The spontaneous nature of the playing is captivating and, as always with Pletnev, exciting.

Mozart, Schubert & Stravinsky: Piano Duos

“Stravinsky's Rite of Spring prompts several adjectives: brutal, revolutionary, relentless, terrifying...But elegant? Urbane, seductive, sensuous? This astonishing performance is all that and more. Few orchestral accounts equal the colouristic range on offer here...This is keyboard sorcery near the levels reported of Chopin and Liszt.” --BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2014 *****

“the audio experience has its own fire and majesty as these two old friends pitch in and strike sparks...an electrifying live recording.” --The Times, 31st October 2014 ****

“Barenboim's instinct is to sing out, to play to the very back of the hall...[Argerich] acts in a way as a moderating influence on Barenboim's flights, thanks surely in part to her years of experience as a chamber musician...These two-piano bodges always draw from critics the cliche that one misses the orchestral colouring of the work...This shattering performance sweeps away all such notions.” --Gramophone Magazine, October 2014

A reunion of the two classical superstars after more than 15 years.

THE concert highlight from Berlin's fully packed Philharmonie on the occasion of the "Festtage der Berliner Staatsoper 2014"

“Stravinsky originally wrote the Rite of Spring in a two-piano version and one of the first performances was given privately by the composer and Claude Debussy. […] Argerich and Barenboim […] surely possessed even better technique than Stravinsky and Debussy and their commitment could hardly be exaggerated”. (The Guardian)

The Carnegie Recital

“what's impressive here is not just the magnificent and reactive pianism on show but also his maturity. His Chopin Preludes possess a stunning elan...Perhaps it's no coincidence that Trifonov is also a composer; he has a composerly grasp of the structure of all the works here.” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2013

“the torrents of octaves in ...the Liszt are astonishing in their brilliance, boldness and bravura. Rather, the key thing here is that Trifonov can harness his digital strength, stamina and skill to a highly developed sense of the music’s expressive substance...a captivating recital brimful of character.” --The Telegraph, 21st November 2013 *****

Opinions differ on whether he is the heir of Horowitz, Richter or Kissin but in that line of giants, critical opinion is unanimous: Daniil Trifonov is THE great Russian pianist for the 21st Century.

In the past thirty years, the honour of a live Carnegie Hall recital recording has been bestowed by DG upon only two other pianists: Mikhail Pletnev and Lang Lang. Daniil Trifonov now joins this elite company for his very first recording on the Yellow Label.

Recorded in February this year, this richly contrasted and spectacularly virtuosic programme includes much-loved classics by Chopin and Liszt and is the perfect album to introduce the world to DG’s newest piano star . Born 22 years ago in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, Trifonov is already the winner of the Grand Prix, First prize and a Gold Medal in the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (2011.) Beyond his phenomenal technique, he is a distinctly Russian artist: an intense, soulful musician in the great Russian tradition whose presentation and repertoire set him apart from all other young piano stars of today.