Queen Elisabeth Competition - Piano 2021

Description

This session of the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Piano 2021 will undoubtedly be remembered. Despite the constraints imposed by the health crisis (absence of an audience, number of semi-finalists and finalists reduced by half), 58 candidates presented themselves to play before the jury members. The media provided exceptional visibility to the Competition from the very first round (television, radio, internet and social networks) and the audiences only confirmed a growing enthusiasm for the Competition.This 4CD box set brings together the 6 finalists of this session, which saw the Frenchman Jonathan Fournel win the First Prize; one can savor his performance in Brahms' 2nd Concerto with the Belgian National Orchestra under the baton of Hugh Wolff, as well as his entire semi-final recital. The Russian Sergei Redkin, second laureate, is present through his Rachmaninov 3rd Concerto as well as the compulsory piece by Bruno Mantovani. Two Mozart concertos with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie under the direction of Frank Braley are also on the program: No. 23 KV 488 by Vitaly Stakirov (5th Prize) and No. 27 KV 595 under the fingers of the Japanese Keigo Mugawa (3rd Prize).Chamber music is also well represented, notably allowing us to find Tomoki Sakata (4th Prize) in the Liszt Sonata and Dmitry Sin in Schumann's Concert sans orchestre. These artists, who perhaps tomorrow will perform on the greatest stages in the world, all exceptional pianists, are to be discovered here for their first recordings.