The Journey - 7639

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Product Description Special 2 disc set! (In addition to the album cd and an interview disc, a free Vanguard Classics sampler will be included in an initial Limited Edition run.) "The Journey" is the follow up to Leon Fleisher’s extraordinary Vanguard Classics release "Two Hands." Where "Two Hands" chronicled Fleisher’s triumphant return to performing two-handed repertoire after 35 years, "The Journey" tells the rest of the story. The works performed on "The Journey" are the pieces of music that Fleisher was preparing to perform in solo recitals at the time that dystonia began to affect his performing career in the early 1960’s. "The Journey" matches solo piano works rarely recorded, like Stravinsky’s 'Serenade in A,' with the beautiful, melancholy touch that Leon Fleisher brings to popular works such as Chopin’s 'Berceuse' and Beethoven’s 'Für Elise.' The technical ability of a great pianist meets the poetic touch of a master in Bach’s 'Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue' and Mozart’s 'Sonata in E flat,' K. 272. Mr. Fleisher is interviewed on Disc Two by Bob Edwards of XM Radio's 'The Bob Edwards Show.' Amazon.com Leon Fleischer is the extraordinary pianist who lost the use of his right hand to a neurological ailment in 1964 at the height of his career. Undaunted, he took up teaching, conducting, and performing the left-hand literature so brilliantly that it was hard to believe he was using only one hand. When he returned to two-handed playing after years of medical treatments and determined, arduous rehabilitation, the public greeted him not only as a great artist but a conquering hero. This disc is his second two-handed recording (the first, Two Hands, was released in 2004). The title refers to the journey of life which, Fleischer says, "matters more than the destinations." The program features works Fleischer had performed regularly before 1964 but never recorded. Now in his late 70s, Fleischer plays with patrician authority and an unfailing sense of structure and style. His technical mastery seems fully intact, his tone is beautiful and variable, his youthful vigor remarkable. His Bach is especially striking for its simple directness and the clarity of its texture and counterpoint. In the Capriccio "On the Departure of a Brother," a piece of real "program music," he brings out the lamentation and the humor; in the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue the build-ups are very dramatic, the runs carefully shaped. Chopin's "Berceuse" is dreamy and singing. Stravinsky's "Serenade" alternates percussive passages with sardonic "melodies," and includes a marathon perpetual motion. An early, relatively unfamiliar Mozart sonata is fussy and unspontaneous, but Beethoven's very familiar "Für Elise" is beautiful. Is Fleischer demonstrating how this lovely piece, all too frequently heard on student recitals and telephones, should really sound? --Edith Eisler Review "...a poet of the keyboard. He brings out inner voices often neglected and shapes lines with uncommon grace." -- Don Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer "a brave and very fine musician " -- Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London) From the Artist "The journey, well, it’s really all we have," Leon Fleisher said when asked about his new recording. "It’s a hard concept for a younger person to understand, but from my standpoint, it’s really the journey that matters most. The destinations along the way are often wonderful, but we must always move along on the journey." On Mozart’s Sonata in E, K. 292: "A marvelous, bittersweet piece," Fleisher calls the sonata. (This work won him the first prize at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Piano Competition in 1952.) "There is much more recognition of this piece now. It was actually somewhat obscure when I first performed it. Pianists since then have discovered the work, but when I played it at the competition, it was really a bit of a revelation to many people." Of Stravinsky’s 'Serenade in A Major': "I play a very authentic version of the w
ASIN: B000GYHQZ2
VSKU: COV.B000GYHQZ2.N
Condition: New