Andras Schiff

Andras Schiff – J.S. Bach : Six Partitas (2009)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:12:49 minutes | 1,77 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

After completing his highly praised Beethoven cycle, pianist András Schiff returns to Bach in this spot-on live recording of the Six Partitas. Though published as his Opus 1, the Partitas were Bach’s last compositions for keyboard. Both reasons make it a keystone in the mythical Bach pantheon. Although “partita” is essentially a euphemism for “suite,” in Bach’s hands the form was opened to a freer and more complex sense of infrastructure and performative demands.

The introductions show both composer and performer at their best. The Praeambulum of Partita V is a tour de force of rhythmic urgency and dynamic control. The Fantasia of Partita III is another astounding inauguration, its resplendence cluing us into the genesis of the music to follow. The meditative Praeludium of Partita I contrasts sublimely with the Sinfonia of Partita II, the latter a stately lead-in to the courtliest of the Partitas. The accompanying Allemandes overwhelm with their sparks, conflagrating our souls into rapt attention. The pacing throughout is nothing short of extraordinary. Schiff’s sprightly Correntes glisten like rain-drenched leaves, tempering their surrounding flames with a quiet power.
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András Schiff – J.S. Bach: Clavichord (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:51 minutes | 1,58 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series

After his landmark recording of some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most important keyboard music, one of the great Bach interpreters of our time turns his attention to the composer’s preferred instrument.

The sound of the clavichord is, says András Schiff, an invitation into “a new world, a quiet oasis in our noisy, troubled times. Thanks to the clavichord I now play and hear Bach differently.” An intimate and personal instrument – “a most gentle creature, ideal for playing alone” – it can also be, as Schiff notes, a demanding and unforgiving teacher. “On the clavichord we have only our fingers at our disposal, they must create the music with the finest gradations of touch.”
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András Schiff – Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:33 minutes | 980 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

Two great artists, pianist András Schiff and composer/clarinettist Jörg Widmann, join forces for the first time on record, performing Brahms’s late masterpieces, the clarinet sonatas op. 120, written in 1894. In between the sonatas Schiff plays Widmann’s evocative Intermezzi for piano. As Jörg Widmann explains in a programme note, these are works inspired by his friendship with András Schiff and by a shared love of Brahms, to whom they pay tribute. The album was recorded at Neumarkt’s Historischer Reitstadel.
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András Schiff – Franz Schubert: Sonatas & Impromptus (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:04:18 minutes | 1,84 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

For a truly great interpretation it’s not enough just to play a historical instrument, the playing also has to be up to scratch. This recording released by the world-renowned label ECM showcases a pianist of the highest calibre playing the wonderful Viennese Brodmann piano. András Schiff captures the convergence of thought and sound remarkably well and seldom before have we been given so much insight into Schubert’s innermost thoughts. The softness and the unmistakable legato that the pianist produces on this Viennese instrument give the Sonatas D. 958 and D. 959 an indescribable feeling of nostalgia. But Schubert’s inward revolt was growing and András Schiff leads us steadily to the edge of the abyss. The crystalline sounds of the Scherzo in the Sonata D. 959 are as enchanting as the sound of ancient harpists who were so often depicted by German Romantics. This exploration into sound is also marvellous in the Impromptus D. 899 and the 3 Klavierstücke D. 946 or “Three Piano Pieces”, which have a very expressive counterpoint that differ from the unfathomable depth of the sonatas. This album is a revelation into a whole new world of sound that is unveiled as András Schiff’s fingers touch the keys. Inspiring.  – François Hudry
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Andras Schiff – András Schiff : Franz Schubert (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:25:39 minutes | 2,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

András Schiff’s reputation as one of the great interpreters of the work of Franz Schubert is long-established. He has always maintained that Schubert’s music is amongst the most moving ever written. Schiff underlined the point on his ECM New Series album with the C Major fantasies at the end of the 1990s, and he does so again on this remarkable recording, on which two Schubert sonatas, the “Musical Moments”, four Impromptus (D 935), the “Hungarian Melody” and an Allegretto are addressed on a period instrument, the fortepiano. András Schiff: “My fortepiano was built by Franz Brodmann in Vienna in 1820. It is to me ideally suited to Schubert’s keyboard works. There is something quintessentially Viennese in its timbre, its tender mellowness, its melancholic cantabilità … It is in the quiet and quietest moments when Schubert – like nobody else – touches our hearts.”
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András Schiff – J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variationen, BWV 988 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:14 minutes | 957 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

András Schiff returns to the Goldberg Variations in what will be regarded as one of the classical music events of the year. Two decades after his acclaimed account of the Variations for Decca, Schiff documents Bach’s towering masterpiece again, this time in a live recording for ECM New Series. As the New York Times said, “Mr Schiff is, in Bach, a phenomenon. He has quite simply internalized this music. He doesn’t so much perform it as emit, breathe it.” The fluency of the playing in this concert recording from Basel is quietly astonishing, the technical demands of the work transcended with uncanny gracefulness.
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András Schiff – Beethoven: Diabelli-Variationen, Op. 120 (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:29:32 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM New Series

Following his monumental exploration of the 32 Sonatas, András Schiff has now recorded – on two period instruments – remarkable, contrasting versions of the Diabelli Variations alongside major late works with intrinsic ties to them. The Sonata Op. 111 and the Diabelli Variations (Disc 1) are played on an original Bechstein grand from 1921, and the second reading of the Diabelli Variations, (paired with the op. 126 Bagatelles on Disc 2) on a Hammerflügel fortepiano from Beethoven’s own day. This gives listeners a unique opportunity to compare the rich range of these highly contrasting sonic universes, a world apart from modern day instruments. Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations are considered a magnum opus of the piano repertoire, a towering contribution to the genre and an entire Encyclopedia of pianism.
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Andras Schiff – Beethoven : The Piano Sonatas (Live) (2016/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 11:50:16 minutes | 5,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM New Series

The Beethoven sonatas can be logically divided into three distinct groups: early, middle and late. To me, playing them in chronological order is most convincing and deeply satisfying. Among the thirty-two there is not one weak link. And this way the listener is able to follow the process of evolution, step by step. It is a learning experience; we are fellow travellers on a fantastic voyage.”
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