Christoph Eschenbach: The Early Recordings (2011) (6 CD Box Set)

Born in 1941, and currently chief conductor of the Orchestre de Paris, Christoph Eschenbach is one of today’s foremost conductor-pianists. This fascinating retrospective focuses on his brilliant early career as a pianist, when his searching musical intelligence, formidable technique and enthusiastic engagement with the music of his, and our, time produced many recordings that have stood the test of time.

Ates Orga’s detailed booklet notes offer a personal account from the man himself of his troubled start in life as an orphan, without the power of speech, learning to love and communicate through music. His quite fierce style is shaped by his admiration of great German intellectual musicians such as Edwin Fischer and Wilhelm Furtwängler, and finds an ideal analogue in the works of Beethoven, such as the Third and Fifth Piano Concertos, and the mighty ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata included in this set. Equally his refinement, evident nowadays in the French music he conducts in Paris and in his recordings with the Philadelphia orchestra, is reflected in his early portrayals of the romantic genius of Chopin (the Préludes) and Schumann (Kinderszenen).

His long friendship with Hans Werner Henze led the great German composer to write the Piano Concerto No.2 for Eschenbach, and this vast, Shakespeare-inspired work remains Henze at his boldest and most compelling, like Eschenbach himself, soaked in the German artistic tradition but finding new outgrowths from it.

Of appeal to connoisseurs of the piano and to new-music enthusiasts Will receive coverage in the serious musical press.

Tracklist:

Disc: 1
1. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: Allegro con brio
2. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: Largo
3. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37: Rondo, allegro
4. Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major ('Emperor'), Op. 73: Allegro
5. Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major ('Emperor'), Op. 73: Adagio un poco mosso
6. Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major ('Emperor'), Op. 73: Rondo, allegro



Disc: 2
1. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Allegro
2. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Scherzo, assai vivace
3. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Adagio sostenuto, appassionato e con molto sentimento
4. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Largo-allegro risoluto



Disc: 3
1. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 1 in C, agitato
2. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 2 in A minor, lento
3. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 3 in G, vivace
4. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 4 in E minor, largo
5. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 5 in D, allegro molto
6. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 6 in B minor, lento assai
7. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 7 in A, andantino
8. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 8 in F sharp minor, molto agitato
9. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 9 in E, largo
10. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 10 in C sharp minor, allegro molto
11. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 11 in B, vivace
12. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 12 in G sharp minor, presto
13. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 13 in F sharp, lento
14. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 14 in E flat minor, allegro
15. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 15 in D flat, sostenuto
16. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 16 in B flat minor, presto con fuoco
17. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 17 in A flat, allegretto
18. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 18 in F minor, allegro molto
19. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 19 in E flat, vivace
20. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 20 in C minor, largo
21. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 21 in B flat, cantabile
22. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 22 in G minor, molto agitato
23. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 23 in F, moderato
24. Preludes (24) for piano, Op. 28, CT. 166-189: No. 24 in D minor, allegro appassionato
25. Prelude for piano No. 25 in C sharp minor, Op. 45, CT. 190
26. Prelude for piano No. 26 in A flat major ('Presto con leggierezza'), KK IVb/7, CT. 191 (B. 86)
27. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Von fremden Ländern und Menschen
28. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Kuriöse Geschichte
29. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Hasche-Mann
30. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Bittendes Kind
31. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Glückes genug
32. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Wichtige Begebenheit
33. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Träumerei
34. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Am Kamin
35. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Ritter vom Steckenpferd
36. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Fast zu ernst
37. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Fürchtenmachen
38. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Kind im Einschlummern
39. Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15: Der Dichter spricht



Disc: 4
1. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Allegro
2. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Andantino
3. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Scherzo, allegro vivace
4. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Rondo, allegretto



Disc: 5
1. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Molto moderato
2. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Andante sostenuto
3. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Scherzo, allegro vivace con delicatezza
4. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Allegro ma non troppo



Disc: 6
1. Piano Concerto No. 2: Moderato
2. Piano Concerto No. 2: Vivace-meno mosso-tempo
3. Piano Concerto No. 2: Moderato-
4. Piano Concerto No. 2: Vivace-
5. Piano Concerto No. 2: Lento-
6. Piano Concerto No. 2: Vivace