Grieg & Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos

Sa Chen (piano)

Orquestra Gulbenkian, Lawrence Foster

Heavyweights of the romantic concert literature
After the excellent recording with concertos by Chopin, Lawrence Foster, the Gulbenkian Orchestra and the young pianist Sa Chen continued their musically successful collaboration. The program features two heavyweights of the Romantic concerto literature that demand everything from the orchestra and the soloist: the most popular piano concerto of all time by Edward Grieg and Rachmaninoff's Second.

Sa Chen has been called “a brilliant pianist” by Emmanuel Ax. Here she performs what are probably two of the best known of all piano concertos. Her previous release on PentaTone (PTC5186355) included Rachmaninov’s Études-Tableaux; “The tone is unremittingly beautiful, she displays a wide palette of pianistic colour...” International Record Review.

June 2012

She projects the rolling passagework and multi-layered textures of the Rachmaninov's first movement with plenty of power and sweep...Chen's well-modulated, regulation pianism does justice to the Grieg Concerto's solo part but she offers little that her recorded competitors have not done better.