Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin :: The Journey

The Journey
Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin
The Journey
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (17) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (1) - Disc #2

Special 2 disc set! (In addition to the album cd and an interview disc, a free Vanguard Classics sampler will be included in an initial Limited Edition run.) "The Journey" is the follow up to Leon Fleisher?s extraordinary...  more »

     
?

Larger Image

CD Details


Synopsis

Album Description
Special 2 disc set! (In addition to the album cd and an interview disc, a free Vanguard Classics sampler will be included in an initial Limited Edition run.) "The Journey" is the follow up to Leon Fleisher?s extraordinary Vanguard Classics release "Two Hands." Where "Two Hands" chronicled Fleisher?s triumphant return to performing two-handed repertoire after 35 years, "The Journey" tells the rest of the story. The works performed on "The Journey" are the pieces of music that Fleisher was preparing to perform in solo recitals at the time that dystonia began to affect his performing career in the early 1960?s. "The Journey" matches solo piano works rarely recorded, like Stravinsky?s 'Serenade in A,' with the beautiful, melancholy touch that Leon Fleisher brings to popular works such as Chopin?s 'Berceuse' and Beethoven?s 'Für Elise.' The technical ability of a great pianist meets the poetic touch of a master in Bach?s 'Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue' and Mozart?s 'Sonata in E flat,' K. 272. Mr. Fleisher is interviewed on Disc Two by Bob Edwards of XM Radio's 'The Bob Edwards Show.'
 

CD Reviews

A worthy successor to "Two Hands"!
SwissDave | Switzerland | 10/18/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Glad to note the recording's just that touch less distant and reverberant than "Two Hands" (far from dry!) that makes this sound so much like Fleisher does in concert, if closer, perhaps more ideally intimate than in real life. If anything Fleisher's playing now sounds even more technically secure again (jaw-dropping, actually, given his life "journey"), musically of course, I've become so partial to anything he's recorded at any stage in his career, I dare not say much: I can see why one critic has already referred to his interpretation of Mozart's K. 282 Sonata as "fussy" - it is indeed intricately detailed. So what? The better the stereo system one uses to listen to this, the more it becomes apparent no grace note's running against the flow - nothing wrong with seeing old warehorses in a new light, or is there? As to the Bach pieces, comparing the 'Traumatic' (!) Fantasy and Fugue to recordings by Edwin Fischer and Wilhelm Kempff (live on BBC Legends), I can only say that hearing it in another great interpretation is again improving my appreciation of what has always been some of the most fascinating, if never the easiest Bach to me to fully grasp. It's fascinating that Fleisher manages once again (as on "Two Hands") to set a mood for the whole disc (right away with Bach's "Arioso: Adagio" from the "On the Departure of a Brother" Capriccio, the whole of which he plays with genuine simplicity) and yet give each of these diverse compositions its due. The Bagatelle wrongly titled "Für Elise" receives one of its finest interpretations here (right now comparing it to Bruce Hungerford's more "daring" reading), for example. As happens to me so often with Fleisher, I'm also increasingly impressed with Stravinsky's Serenade, a piece I may so far not have taken seriously enough. In short, the riches here are once again far too many to enumerate...



Greetings from Switzerland, David."
Overall sublime, some drawbacks, but still rates a 5
Patrick D. Goonan | Pleasanton, CA | 12/29/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love Leon Fleisher for his lyrical interpretations of Bach and his amazing ability to perform Chopin. On this particular album there is a lot of Bach and a taste of Chopin. The Chopin is very reminiscent of Arthur Rubenstein and this is something I like very much about this artist.



In general, Fleisher brings an amazing sensitivity to his piano playing whatever the particular piece. His tone is simply gorgeous and it really shines through on every piece. Playing Mozart is not necessarily his strength, but this album does not devote a lot of time to this composer. His interpretations of Beethoven and Stravinsky are very well done.



Fleisher is certainly not a minor player on the concert stage even after his extensive layoff. Both this album and "Two Hands" are excellent even if you have recordings all of these pieces already. I play the piano seriously myself and I am thoroughly satisfied with this purchase."
Leon has another fantastic recording
Richard L. Kendrick | central PA | 01/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Unfortunately I didn't know of Fleisher until I purchased his first recording using both hands since his physical improvement. This follows in that he has that wonderful phraseology that is not the usual and every note is given its due, not just skimmed over. Really loved the recordings."