Schubert: Piano Music

Elisabeth Leonskaja made her debut MDG album with works by Franz Schubert. Now this highly acclaimed recording has been lovingly remixed and freshly remastered and is now finally available as a Super Audio CD in high resolution and in MDG's typical 3D audio format. This collaboration between the world-class pianist and the audiophile label presents the language of the sonata with compositions from Franz Schubert's piano oeuvre. The world of the Romantic piano unfolds with every note on the legendary Steinway D grand piano "Manfred Burki" from 1901 creating a veritable bouquet of sounds.

It was precisely the first piece from D 946, Allegro assai in E-flat minor, that established Schubert's position as a mediator between worlds: Schubert's music oscillates imperceptibly between the language of Beethoven and Chopin. This must certainly have fascinated his colleagues: None other than Johannes Brahms was the first to publish this work after the composer's untimely death at the young age of 31.

The Two Scherzos D 593 and the beautiful Adagio in E major D 612 also show that Schubert never wrote pieces d'occasion - he was driven by a deeper motivation even when they were composed for specific occasions. Their harmonic boldness and pianistic tenderness make them unique contemporary witnesses of musical culture.

Elisabeth Leonskaja already caused a sensation when she began her studies as an 11-year-old at the Moscow Conservatory with Jacob Milstein. A prodigious career was to follow!

Whilst still a student, she won prizes at international competitions in Bucharest, Paris and Brussels. Before she emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1978 and chose Vienna as her permanent residence, she played concerts as Sviatoslav Richter's duo partner. Today she can be heard as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls all over the world.

"This is essential Schubert, pure and simple" (Gramophone)

"In Leonskaja's hands it seems like the quintessence of Schubert" (International Record Review)

"The recorded sound on the present Dabringhaus und Grimm disc is marvellous, warm and yet detailed. Leonskaja is generous with her programme, too, just one second of eighty minutes... Highly recommended." (MusicWeb)

• Schubert: Adagio in E major, D612
• Schubert: Allegretto in C minor, D915
• Schubert: Klavierstücke (3), D946
• Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 13 in A major, D664
• Schubert: Two Scherzi, D593