Title - 'Bach'
Artist - Nelson Freire
For those not in the classical know, Nelson Freire is a Brazilian classical pianist. Freire began playing the piano at age 3. He replayed from memory pieces his older sister, Nelma, had just performed. His teachers in Brazil were Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, former students of a pupil of Liszt. For his first public recital, at the age of four, Freire chose Mozart's Sonata in A major, K. 331.
Here on the just-released Bach, Nelson Freire brings a lifetimes experience to his first-ever album devoted to the music of JS Bach. The album was recorded in his 70th birthday year and offers over 80 minutes of music.
1. Ouverture
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Aria
5. Sarabande
6. Menuet
7. Gigue
8. Toccata in C minor, BWV 911
9. Prélude
10. Allemande
11. Courante
12. Sarabande Les agréments de la meme Sarabande
13. Gavotte alternativement Gavotte II ou la Musette
14. Gigue
15. Fantasia
16. Fuga
17. II Adagio
18. Ich ruf zu dir, herr Jesu Christ
19. Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist
20. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
21. Organ Prelude in G minor
22. Jesu, Joy of Man s Desiring (Chorale from Cantata No. 147)
The release provides a perfect overview of Bach on the piano: towering original works such as the Fourth Partita and Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; one of Bachs own keyboard transcriptions (the sublime slow movement of Marcellos Oboe Concerto) plus a selection of transcriptions by Busoni, Siloti and Myra Hess.
By the way, if you're interested in hearing just how good Freire really was as a young boy, there's an archived recording of Freire at the age of 12-13 to still be found out there. It includes his 1957 live concert performance in the final round of the Rio de Janeiro Piano Competition of that year, which launched his career, as well as pieces he recorded immediately after the competition. And my goodness, it's rather good as well.
www.DeccaClassics.com
www.deccaclassics.com/us/artist/freire/biography