Frédéric Chopin Piano Concertos - Margarita Höhenrieder

Frédéric Chopin Piano Concertos - Margarita Höhenrieder

SM 425 (Solo Musica, CD)

FIRST RELEASE (6 October 2023)
Tracks: 6
℗ 2023 Solo Musica GmbH
© 2023 Solo Musica GmbH
Main country of recording: Switzerland
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Frédéric Chopin Piano Concertos - Margarita Höhenrieder published on 23 November 2023

Margarita Höhenrieder, piano
Orchestra La Scintilla (tracks 1-3)
Riccardo Minasi, conductor (tracks 1-3)
Orchester Wiener Akademie (tracks 4-6)
Martin Haselböck, conductor (tracks 4-6)

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849):

Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op 11
1 Allegro maestoso
2 Romnanze. Larghetto
3 Rondo. Vivace

Piano Concerto No 2 in F minor, Op 21
4 Maestoso
5 Larghetto
6 Allegro vivace

For years, Margarita Höhenrieder was searching for the authentic sound of Frédéric Chopin's piano works. Which instrument of its time most convincingly reflected Chopin's music? Chopin himself had given the answer in 1831: 'Pleyel's instruments are the non plus ultra'! The choice for the recording therefore fell on a Pleyel fortepiano, built 1848 in Paris and expertly restored using historical materials and methods. It is absolutely identical in construction to the instrument that Chopin owned, and thus represents an authentic sound testimony. For acoustic reasons of the sound of the original instruments, the Oberstrass Church in Zurich (1st Piano Concerto) and the Vienna Musikverein in Vienna (2nd Piano Concerto) were chosen as recording venues. The orchestras 'La Scintilla' conducted by Riccardo Minasi and the 'Wiener Akademie' conducted by Martin Haselböck also played on historical instruments. We hear in each case the historical versions by Jan Ekier. Margarita Höhenrieder's careful recreation of the authentic Chopin sound gives the listener highly interesting insights into music history.

Recorded 4-7 October 2021 at Kirche Oberstrass, Zürich, Switzerland (tracks 1-3) and 21-22 November 2022 at Wiener Musikverein, Vienna, Austria (tracks 4-6).

Historic concert versions edited by Jan Ekier, played on authentic period instruments.