24 Préludes et Fugues

Description

After Bach's Goldberg Variations, which earned him worldwide accolades (including a Diapason d'Or), Hannes Minnaar challenges and confronts what has become a "classic" of the 20th-century repertoire: Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues, composed in 1951. Once again, the qualities of his pianism, for which he is recognized as one of the greatest musicians of our time, are highlighted: the diversity of touch and the flexibility between tension and tranquility to characterize each Prelude and Fugue, the precision of timbre, the absence of any affectation, a natural finesse in phrasing and articulation, and a familiarity with the score that goes hand in hand with a freshness evoking a sense of improvisation. Here we encounter a new benchmark in the crowded field of interpretations of this wonderful music.