Mozart – Beethoven – Haydn – Strauss: Piano Concertos With Mastercard

This is the second installment of the SWR CLASSIC series dedicated to Friedrich Gulda. It contains the piano concertos he recorded for the SWR between 1959 and 1962. Although most famous for his L.v. Beethoven interpretations, Friedrich Gulda also performed the music of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Schubert, Fr�d�ric Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. From the 1950’s on he cultivated an interest in jazz, writing several songs and instrumental pieces himself and combining jazz and classical music in his concerts at times. In 1982, Gulda teamed up with jazz pianist Chick Corea, who found himself in between the breakup of Return to Forever and the formation of his Elektric Band. Issued on The Meeting (Philips, 1984), Gulda and Corea communicate in lengthy improvisations mixing jazz (Someday My Prince Will Come and the lesser known Miles Davis song Put Your Foot Out) and classical music (Brahms’ Wiegenlied). It was this unorthodox practice that, among other things, earned him the nickname “terrorist pianist”; Friedrich Gulda had a strong dislike of authorities like the Vienna Academy, the L.v. Beethoven Ring of which he was offered in recognition of his performances but which he refused, and even faked his own death in the late 1990’s, cementing his status as the enfant terrible among pianists. Nevertheless, Gulda is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding piano players of the 20th century.