Search - Ingrid Fliter :: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8- Pathetique, 17- Tempest, & 23- Appassionata

Ingrid Fliter is a one-off, the kind of pianist we have not seen in years. She plays Beethoven with an old-master's touch and Chopin with reckless passion. (La Scena Musicale) For her third EMI Classics recording, Ingrid Fliter turns to three of the most passionate and powerful Beethoven sonatas with titles to match: Op. 13 `Pathétique', Op. 31 No. 2 `Tempest' and Op. 57 `Appassionata'. The iTunes bonus tracks are the Opus 33 Bagatelles Nos. 2, 6 and 7. Fliter said recently, "Through working on Beethoven's music I discovered the man, the humanity he expressed in his music. He took his life and music -and his mission- very seriously. He was an extremist. He did not give any concessions or compromises. He was not afraid of showing himself as he was and as such made many enemies as well as friends, lovers and admirers. I am among the latter." Reviewing a recent recital that included Beethoven's Sonata No. 18, Op 31 No. 3, Chicago Classical Review wrote, "Fliter brought not just a sterling technique but just the right sense of quirky humor and individuality to this music. Rarely will one hear the jocular side of Beethoven put across with such spirit, the dynamic contrasts underlined, and Fliter's light articulation bringing a vivacious Haydnesque wit to the music. [...] She also brought out the pensive side of the songful Menuetto and the rollicking Presto was aptly con fuoco making a rousing conclusion to a first-rate Beethoven performance." Fliter is associated in many people's minds with the music of Chopin. She was the Silver Medal winner of the Frédéric Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2000, since which time she has performed his music extensively and made two critically acclaimed Chopin recordings for EMI Classics. Comparing the music of Chopin and Beethoven, she said, "Playing Beethoven requires a totally different approach than playing Chopin. Chopin is more about him. You are the interpreter, you create the sound and people receive the beauty from you. But Beethoven is all about him wishing to communicate with the world. He wanted to catch the sky, catch nature and be part of it. He was all about giving. And this is something I want to create when I play. It's not about me, it's about the music, it's about Beethoven." Of the three Beethoven sonatas performed on this CD, only one was assigned its title by the composer. This was the `Grande sonate pathétique', composed in 1798 in Vienna and dedicated to Prince Karl Lichnowsky, a supporter who had introduced Beethoven to Viennese aristocracy. The sonata was composed at a time when Beethoven was becoming aware of his encroaching deafness. Although Beethoven did not name his sonata Op. 31 No. 2 `Tempest,' there are unconfirmed reports that he thought of Shakespeare's play in connection with the music. Beethoven's only sonata in the unusual key of D minor dates from 1802, a dark period in his life and the year of his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter addressed to his brothers "to be read and executed after my death". In it, he described his despair over the progression of his deafness, his rejection of suicide and his decision to "endure this wretched existence" for the sake of his work. The name Appassionata affixed to Beethoven's Sonata Op. 57 was not chosen by the composer but is very apt as the work is passionate, dramatic and tempestuous. The title was chosen by the publisher in 1838, 11 years after the composer's death. The Appassionata was composed in 1804/1805 and possibly into 1806. It cost Beethoven a great deal of time and effort in the same period that he was composing the Eroica Symphony, the Kreutzer Sonata and the Leonora Overture No.2. Beethoven is said to have considered Op. 57 his greatest sonata until he composed the Hammerklavier in 1818. Ingrid Fliter began her studies in her native Buenos Aires before moving to Europe to continue them in France and Italy. She won prizes at important competitions, including the Busoni Competition and the International Frédéric Chopin Competition. In 2005, Fliter became the fifth recipient of the prestigiousGilmore Artist Award, made every four years by an anonymous panel of judges who assess a number of pianists over a period of time without their knowledge. Age and nationality are immaterial. The winner must possess broad and profound musicianship and charisma and must desire and be able to sustain a career as a major international concert artist. Two of the four previous Gilmore Award winners were EMI Classics artists Leif Ove Andsnes (2002) and Piotr Anderszewski (1998). From 2007-2009, Fliter was on the roster of BBC's New Generation Artists scheme, through which she appeared with many of the BBC's orchestra and participated in prominent UK festivals. Today Fliter divides her time between Europe and the United States. Recent and forthcoming engagements include the Philharmonia Orchestra (3 April at the Royal Festival Hall in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23), the Royal Stockholm, Rotterdam, Bergen, Royal Liverpool and Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestras and the Sydney and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. This season marks Fliter's International Piano Series debut at the Southbank Centre in London (7 June, 2011) with an all-Beethoven recital. She also looks forward to engagements at festivals in France, Spain, the Czech Republic, the UK and Japan. Ingrid Fliter is an exclusive EMI Classics recording artist. When her first CD, an all-Chopin disc, was released in April 2008, The Telegraph wrote, "The warmth of her playing and the lyrical impulse of her interpretations are combined with discretion in matters of dynamics, pianistic decoration and tonal colour to make these pieces flow from her fingers with the spontaneity of someone deeply immersed in the music's idiom." Her second release, the Complete Chopin Waltzes, inspired strong words of praise from Gramophone: "Ingrid Fliter sets a new benchmark for the complete waltzes. From beginning to end, this is among the finest Chopin recordings of recent years... Each waltz emerges as if a great actress were reading a short story, each with its own colour and character. Fliter's `timing' is judged to perfection; her tempi are near ideal; she never loses sight of Chopin the poet or reinvents him as a red-blooded virtuoso"