Nikolai Demidenko - Live at Wigmore Hall (1993) [2CD]

The performances on this 2-CD set were recorded during Piano Masterworks, a series of six concerts given by Nikolai Demidenko in Wigmore Hall, London, between January and June 1993. Devised by Ates Orga, under the patronage of The Lord Birkett, sponsored by Lloyds Private Banking, these recitals ranged across 250 years of keyboard music, instrumental technique and the development of modern piano resource - from Scarlatti to Gubaidulina. As a concept the series was modelled on nineteenth-century Romantic practice. In Paris, between 1873 and 1877, Charles-Valentin Alkan gave regular 'Petits Concerts de Musique Classique' -six recitals each, surveying the repear rtoire from Couperin, Bach, Handel and Scarlatti to Weber, Chopin, Schumann and Mendelssohn. Later, the Russian Anton Rubinstein created a cycle of seven Historical Recitals with which he took his farewell of Europe in the mid-1880s. At over three hours individually, these embraced a repertoire from Byrd and John Bull to Balakirev and Tchaikovsky. Like Franz Liszt, Ferruccio Busoni, too, was historically aware, his programming ranging from Bach to Liapunov.
Within a framework selectively subjective, Piano Masterworks sought to present an historical overview, offering a panorama of changing styles, aesthetic values and imaginative responses. The series was launched in Northern Ireland during 1991/92, opening at the Belfast Festival and continuing under the auspices of Queen's University, Belfast, and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

CD1 All tracks played by Nikolai Demidenko:
01. VORISEK Fantasia in C major, op 12: Adante
02. VORISEK Fantasia in C major, op 12: Allegro con brio
03. HAYDN Variations in F minor, Hob XVII:6
04. SCARLATTI Sonata in C minor, Kk11
05. SCARLATTI Sonata in B minor, Kk377
06. SCHUMANN Variations on a theme of Clara Wieck (Sonata in F minor, op 14)
07. MENDELSSOHN Fantasy in F sharp minor, op 28: Con moto agitato - Agitato
08. MENDELSSOHN Fantasy in F sharp minor, op 28: Allegro con moto
09. MENDELSSOHN Fantasy in F sharp minor, op 28: Presto
10. KALKBRENNER Noctune in A flat (Les Soupirs de la Harpe Elienne), op 129
Total time: (61:42)

CD1: Tracks 1-5 +cover + cue + log
CD1: Tracks 6-10
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CD2 All tracks played by Nikolai Demidenko:
01. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Auf dem Hugel sitz ich spahend
02. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Wo die Berge so balu
03. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Leichte Segler in den Hohen
04. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Dieser Wolken in den Hohen
05. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Es kehret der Maien
06. Beethoven & Liszt - An Die ferne Geliebte, S469: Nimm sie hin denn dieser Lieder
07. Berg - Sonata in B minor, op. 1
08. Buxtehude & Prokofiev - Prelude and Fugue in d minor, BuxWV140: Prelude
09. Buxtehude & Prokofiev - Prelude and Fugue in d minor, BuxWV140: Fugue
10. Gubaidulina - Ciacona
11. Liszt - Funerailles, S173 no. 7
12. Schubert - Impromptu in A flat major, D899 no. 4
Total time: (60:26)

CD2: Tracks 1-9 +cover + cue + log
CD2: Tracks 10-12
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