21.12.2023 | Artist
Many happy returns to András Schiff who celebrates his 70th birthday today.
András Schiff’s collaboration with ECM and Manfred Eicher goes back to 1999, when his first album for the New Series, including works by Mozart, Reger and Busoni for two pianos in duo with Peter Serkin, was released. An exclusive artist for the label since, he has forged a vast catalogue with influential solo recordings of the major works of Bach, Schubert, Schumann, a complete survey of Beethoven’s Sonatas and the “Diabelli Variations” – many are today considered reference recordings. Further composers addressed by Schiff include Leoš Janáček and recently Johannes Brahms. His rendering of Brahms’s Piano Concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has been called a benchmark recording. The pianist’s most recent CD, with works by Bach, played on the clavichord, documents Schiff’s ongoing, profound exploration of period instruments. Chamber music recordings with distinguished musical partners Yuuko Shiokawa, Miklós Perényi, Juliane Banse and Jörg Widmann complete his substantial body of work, reflecting a 25 year-long partnership between a musician and his label.
“Schiff’s ability to combine intellectual tension with the sensual qualities of playing is singular. In other words, when we hear Schiff perform, we cannot help but recognize that a truly attentive musical mind must not only read the music, but consider it, guide it, even argue with it in order to produce truly great sound.” – Martin Meyer
