Soirée de Vienne Rudolf Buchbinder

• Alfred Grünfeld (1852 - 1924): Soirée de Vienne, Op. 56:
• 1 Grünfeld: Soirée de Vienne, Op. 56 (Concert Paraphrase After Johann Strauss) 04:47
• Otto Schulhof (1889 - 1958): 3 Bearbeitungen nach Motiven von Johann Strauss, Op. 9:
• 2 Schulhof: 3 Bearbeitungen nach Motiven von Johann Strauss, Op. 9: No. 2, Pizzicato-Polka 03:32
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): 3 Marches Militaires, D. 733:
• 3 Schubert: 3 Marches Militaires, D. 733: No. 1 in D Major (Arr. Tausig for Piano) 05:53
• Franz Schubert: Waltz in G-Flat Major, D.Anh.I/14 "Kupelwieser Walzer":
• 4 Schubert: Waltz in G-Flat Major, D.Anh.I/14 "Kupelwieser Walzer" 01:29
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1828): 7 Bagatelles, Op. 33:
• 5 Beethoven: 7 Bagatelles, Op. 33: No. 5, Allegro, ma non troppo 03:15
• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Fantaisie-impromptu, Op. 66:
• 6 Chopin: Fantaisie-impromptu, Op. 66 04:36
• Nocturnes, Op. 9:
• 7 Chopin: Nocturnes, Op. 9: No. 2 in E-Flat Major 03:49
• Waltzes, Op. 64:
• 8 Chopin: Waltzes, Op. 64: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor 03:43
• Waltzes, Op. 69:
• 9 Chopin: Waltzes, Op. 69: No. 2 in B Minor 04:04
• 12 Études, Op. 25:
• 10 Chopin: 12 Études, Op. 25: No. 1 in A-Flat Major 02:35
• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Liebeslied, S. 566 (After Schumann’s Widmung, Op. 25 No. 1):
• 11 Schumann/ Liszt: Liebeslied, S. 566 (After Schumann’s Widmung, Op. 25 No. 1) 03:27
• Franz Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899:
• 12 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: I. Allegro molto moderato 08:42
• 13 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: II. Allegro 04:41
• 14 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: III. Andante 06:01
• 15 Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899: IV. Allegretto 07:53
• Alfred Grünfeld: Frühlingsstimmen Walzer, Op. 57 (Concert Paraphrase After Johann Strauss):
• 16 Grünfeld: Frühlingsstimmen Walzer, Op. 57 (Concert Paraphrase After Johann Strauss) 06:19
• Franz Liszt: Soirées de Vienne, S. 427:
• 17 Liszt: Soirées de Vienne, S. 427: No. 6 in A Minor (After Schubert) 06:38
• Total Runtime 01:21:24

Info for Soirée de Vienne

Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the legendary performers of our time. The authority of a career spanning more than 60 years is uniquely combined with esprit and spontaneity in his piano playing. Tradition and innovation, fidelity and freedom, authenticity and open-mindedness merge in his interpretation of the great piano literature.

"We all have impossible dreams. And one such dream has led to this album: I would so love to attend a Viennese soirée one day, where all the composers on this recording are gathered: Strauss, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Beethoven. These pieces embody the spirit of a good evening party: stimulating, good-humoured, lively, but always going deep." (Rudolf Buchbinder)

What a beautiful thought - they are all together on this evening: Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt and Johann Strauss. They meet in Vienna, for a musical salon, and in the midst of them is the pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, at a "Soirée de Vienne". It was this thought, a dream, from which the idea for the new album of the same name by the great pianist Buchbinder was born: "Everyone has dreams that are impossible: I would so love to attend a soirée in Vienna one day where all the composers on this recording would be present." The album is more than a declaration of love to his home city of Vienna, which was the home and scene of tremendous musical developments, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, all of which are reflected in Rudolf Buchbinder's broad oeuvre spanning various epochs - from Haydn to Mozart, Schubert to Johann Strauss. Vienna was and is the geographical centre of Rudolf Buchbinder's musical work. At the age of five the youngest student at the renowned Academy of Music, Buchbinder is today an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Society of Friends of Music and the Vienna Konzerthaus Society.

Beethoven as a part of the whole of life: this album now comes as an invitation to us to experience an evening in the tradition of the musical salons that were already cultivated in Vienna in Mozart's time. So we accompany the pianist to such an evening as would be conceivable somewhere in Vienna. And Buchbinder opens it with the concert paraphrase by Viennese pianist Alfred Grünberg on waltz motifs by Johann Strauss, the Soirée de Vienne, op. 56. The fact that this composer in particular stands for 19th-century Vienna is shown by the numerous arrangements of his works, including those by Viennese pianist Otto Schulhoff. Buchbinder chose the Pizzicato Polka from his Drei Bearbeitungen nach Motiven von Johann Strauss op. 9. The work of Ludwig van Beethoven is part of Rudolf Buchbinder's whole life - at the age of eleven he had played the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major Op. 15 for the first time. Here we hear him with Beethoven's "Bagatelle in C major op. 33/5", which is truly a bagatelle in name only.

Chopin from childhood: In a way, Rudolf Buchbinder also takes stock of his successful pianist career of over 60 years with this album. He was just 9 years old when he played Frederic Chopin's "Etude in A flat major op. 25 No. 1" in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. Buchbinder chose it for his soirée alongside a few waltzes and the "Nocturne in E flat major, op. 9/2". Franz Schubert had composed his "4 Impromptus, Op.90, D.899 1827" in Vienna, where they were published by the publisher Tobias Haslinger on 10 December of the same year. They are also on the programme of Buchbinder's soirée, as are Schubert's "Kupelwieser Waltz" in an arrangement by Richard Strauss and the Marche militaire, arranged by the Polish composer Carl Tausig. Rudolf Buchbinder repeatedly emphasises the great importance of Franz Liszt for his work, not least because Liszt contributed a great deal to popularising Schubert with his paraphrases and Schubert song arrangements. Finally, it is Liszt's "Valse-Caprice in A minor, No.6" from the "Soirées de Vienne S427" of 1853 after waltzes by Schubert with which Rudolf Buchbinder closes his album. "Great art is characterised by the fact that it naturally entertains", says Buchbinder, who in this respect definitely wants to be understood as an "entertainer". "I believe that it is particularly important in our time to revive the conversational culture of the soirée." With this album, we are in the middle of it, so to speak.

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano

Rudolf Buchbinder
is one of the legendary artists of our time. His piano playing is an unparalleled fusion of the authority of a career spanning more than 60 years with spirit and spontaneity. His renditions are celebrated worldwide for their intellectual depth and musical freedom.

Particularly his renditions of Ludwig van Beethoven's works are considered to be exemplary. He has performed the 32 piano sonatas 60 times in cycles all over the world and developed the story of their interpretation over decades. He was the first pianist to play all Beethoven sonatas at the Salzburg Festival during a summer festival. A live recording is available on DVD.

On the occasion of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday in the 2019/20 concert season, for the first time in its 150-year history, the Vienna Musikverein is giving a single pianist, Rudolf Buchbinder, the honor of performing all five piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven in a specially edited cycle. Buchbinder's partners in this unprecedented constellation are the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Music Director Andris Nelsons, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Riccardo Muti and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden under their chief conductors Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann.

Together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, Rudolf Buchbinder will also return to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Philharmonie Luxembourg and the Carnegie Hall New York as part of a tour.

A première is the focus of the Beethoven Year 2020. Based on Beethoven's Diabelli Variations Op. 120, Rudolf Buchbinder initiated a new cycle of variations on the same waltz by Anton Diabelli, which also forms the basis of Beethoven's epochal masterpiece. With Lera Auerbach, Brett Dean, Toshio Hosokawa, Christian Jost, Brad Lubman, Philippe Manoury, Max Richter, Rodion Shchedrin, Johannes Maria Staud, Tan Dun and Jörg Widmann, it was possible to win eleven leading contemporary composers of different generations and backgrounds. The New Diabelli Variations were commissioned by a variety of concert promoters worldwide and with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

The world première recording of the New Diabelli Variations marks the beginning of Rudolf Buchbinder's exclusive partnership with Deutsche Grammophon. At the same time he also presents a new recording of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which he last recorded in 1976.

Rudolf Buchbinder is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the first soloist to be awarded the Golden Badge of Honor by the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Buchbinder attaches great importance to source research. His private music collection comprises 39 complete editions of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano sonatas as well as an extensive archive of first prints, original editions and copies of the piano scores of both piano concertos by Johannes Brahms.

He has been the artistic director of the Grafenegg Festival since its foundation in 2007. Today, Grafenegg is one of the most influential orchestral festivals in Europe.

Two books by Rudolf Buchbinder have been published so far, his autobiography "Da Capo" and "Mein Beethoven - Leben mit dem Meister". Numerous award-winning recordings on CD and DVD document his career.

Booklet for Soirée de Vienne