András Schiff plays Scarlatti & Kurtág (Live) András Schiff

• Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757): Sonata in D Major, K. 96 (L. 465) (Live):
• 1 Scarlatti: Sonata in D Major, K. 96 (L. 465) (Live) 05:09
• Sonata in F Major, K. 518 (L. 116) (Live):
• 2 Scarlatti: Sonata in F Major, K. 518 (L. 116) (Live) 06:16
• Sonata in F Minor, K. 519 (L. 475) (Live):
• 3 Scarlatti: Sonata in F Minor, K. 519 (L. 475) (Live) 02:56
• Sonata in A Major, K. 208 (L. 238) (Live):
• 4 Scarlatti: Sonata in A Major, K. 208 (L. 238) (Live) 03:23
• Sonata in A Major, K. 209 (L. 428) (Live):
• 5 Scarlatti: Sonata in A Major, K. 209 (L. 428) (Live) 04:17
• Sonata in A Minor, K. 175 (L. 429) (Live):
• 6 Scarlatti: Sonata in A Minor, K. 175 (L. 429) (Live) 03:39
• Sonata in C Major, K. 513 (L. 3) (Live):
• 7 Scarlatti: Sonata in C Major, K. 513 (L. 3) (Live) 05:35
• Sonata in E Minor, K. 394 (L. 275) (Live):
• 8 Scarlatti: Sonata in E Minor, K. 394 (L. 275) (Live) 05:42
• Sonata in E Major, K. 395 (L. 65) (Live):
• 9 Scarlatti: Sonata in E Major, K. 395 (L. 65) (Live) 03:26
• Sonata in G Minor, K. 426 (L. 128) (Live):
• 10 Scarlatti: Sonata in G Minor, K. 426 (L. 128) (Live) 08:19
• Sonata in G Major, K. 427 (L. 286) (Live):
• 11 Scarlatti: Sonata in G Major, K. 427 (L. 286) (Live) 02:18
• Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 544 (L. 497) (Live):
• 12 Scarlatti: Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 544 (L. 497) (Live) 03:51
• Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 545 (L. 500) (Live):
• 13 Scarlatti: Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 545 (L. 500) (Live) 02:58
• György Kurtág (b. 1926): Játékok (Games), Vol. 5:
• 14 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: Fanfárok (Fanfares) (Live) 00:51
• 15 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: A Voice in the Distance (For Alfred Schlee's 80th Birthday) (Live) 01:10
• 16 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: Preface to a Bálint Exhibition (Live) 01:16
• 17 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: Grassblades in Memory of Klára Martyn (Live) 00:47
• 18 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: Valcer (Waltz) (Live) 01:07
• 19 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 5: In Memoriam György Szoltsányi (Live) 02:00
• Játékok (Games), Vol. 6:
• 20 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Sirens of the Deluge (Waiting for Noah) (Live) 00:40
• 21 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Humble Regard sur Olivier Messiaen (Live) 01:02
• 22 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: In Memoriam Tibor Szeszler (Live) 01:05
• 23 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Doina (Live) 01:50
• 24 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Päan (Live) 01:07
• 25 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Marina Tsvetayeva: It's Time (Live) 01:12
• 26 Kurtág: Játékok (Games), Vol. 6: Les adieux (In Janáčeks Manier) (Live) 02:31
• Total Runtime 01:14:27

Info for András Schiff plays Scarlatti & Kurtág (Live)

András Schiff has been closely associated with Lucerne Festival for 35 years. These live recordings from 1998/99, now released for the first time, present him interpreting two masters of the miniature: Schiff performs the short pieces with a love of risk, a great art of characterisation and a tremendous sense of sound.

These previously unreleased live recordings from Lucerne present Sir András Schiff with two composers rarely found in his discography or concert programmes: Domenico Scarlatti and György Kurtág. Though separated by centuries, both are masters of musical miniature. Although Schiff had already engaged with Scarlatti during his student years, the Baroque composer gradually disappeared from his repertoire. In Lucerne, he returned to Scarlatti with renewed insight, performing thirteen carefully selected sonatas in a dramaturgically shaped sequence. In response to the live setting, Schiff plays with bold risk-taking, vivid characterisation, and an acute sensitivity to sound. From György Kurtág's Játékok ("Games") - a diary-like collection of piano miniatures - Schiff presents an equally curated selection, incorporating suggestions made by Kurtág himself. Schiff studied with Kurtág for several years in Budapest and holds him in the highest esteem, praising him as a composer "who has an important opinion on every note and knows exactly how he hears it." Despite this admiration, Schiff had not recorded any of Kurtág's music until now. With this release, he pays tribute to Kurtág on the occasion of his 100th birthday on 19 February 2026.

Andras Schiff, piano

As a young pianist, András Schiff earned wide esteem for his 1980s recordings of the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach; in recent years, as part of his long-term relationship with ECM, he has gone back to Bach as a sage veteran, earning even more acclaim for his New Series versions of the Goldberg Variations (2001) and the Six Partitas (2007), both intimate concert recordings. In August 2011, Schiff turned his focus to the 48 preludes and fugues of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, recording both Books I and II in the Auditorium Radiosvizzera Italiana, Lugano. The performance of these influential works sets new interpretive standards. For the recording, Schiff’s own Steinway was brought to Lugano, and the production beautifully captures a masterful player and his instrument of choice.

András Schiff, born in Budapest in 1953, puts a strong focus on cyclic performances of the important piano works by the masters from Bach to Bártok. His wide-ranging discography on ECM includes works by Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Janáček, among many others. One of Schiff's most ambitious projects to date, the complete Beethoven sonata cycle was performed in 20 major musical centers worldwide and recorded for ECM in concert at the Zürich Tonhalle. In 1999, Schiff created his own chamber orchestra, the Cappella Andrea Barca, which consists of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends. In addition to working annually with this orchestra, he conducts London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

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