Grieg & Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Suzana Bartal, Saarländisches Staatsorchester & Sébastien Rouland

• Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907): Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16:
• 1 Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16: I. Allegro molto moderato 13:17
• 2 Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16: II. Adagio 06:11
• 3 Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16: III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato 10:53
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22:
• 4 Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22: I. Andante Sostenuto 11:26
• 5 Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22: II. Allegro Scherzando 05:51
• 6 Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22: III. Presto 06:37
• Total Runtime 54:15

Info for Grieg & Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos

French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal joins Sébastien Rouland and the Saarländische Staatsorchester in this release of two warhorses of the Romantic repertoire, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor. Although not successful at its premiere with the composer at the piano, Saint-Saëns’ 2nd went on to be beloved by the public, and is probably the most played of his 5 concertos for piano. Very few pieces of music are as iconic as the only concerto Grieg ever completed: his famous Piano Concerto in A minor. Liszt famously sight read and lavished praise on it when it was written in 1870, and it has been a perennial favourite since then.

Suzana Bartal, piano
Saarländisches Staatsorchester
Sébastien Rouland, conductor

Suzana Bartal
establishes herself as one of the foremost pianists of her generation. Her playing has been hailed as “brilliant, full of shades and virtuosic” by the Bonner Anzeiger. Recent performances have taken her to prestigious venues such as the big hall of the Paris Philharmonie, the Auditorium of Radio France, the Seine Musicale, Salle Pleyel, the Auditorium of the Musée du Louvre, and the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Merkin Hall in New York, the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Los Angeles, the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venise, as well as Milton Court in London. Highlights include concerts at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence, the Rencontres Musicales Evian, the Festival Berlioz, the International Music Festival de Besançon, the Kaposvar Chamber Music Festival in Hungary, Schloss Elmau in Germany and the Turku Music Festival in Finland.

She has made appearances on ARTE Concert, the French radio (Europe 1, France Musique, Radio Classique, Radio France Internationale), Rai 3 Radio Italy, RTS Espace 2 Switzerland, the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the Danish Radio (DR), Radio Klassik Austria, RTÉ Ireland, the Belgian Radio RTBF3, the Hungarian and Romanian radio, as well as French, Portuguese, Hungarian and Romanian television channels.

After performing on several occasions the complete Liszt “Années de pèlerinage” in three concerts on the same day, her recording of this cycle was released in a triple abum on the label Naïve in March 2020 to praiseful reviews: ““These three perfect discs (…) consacrate the new priestess that the piano of Liszt was awaiting” (Jean-Charles Hoffelé).

Praised by the international critic, the album has received a prize from the Liszt Society in Budapest, as well as “5 stars” from the German magazine Fono Forum, as well as Classical Source UK. It was chosen “CD of the day” on Radio Klassik Austria. Her most recent CD recording was published in May 2022 on the prestigious label Erato/Warner Classics and includes chamber music works by Eric Tanguy with partners Edgar Moreau, Alexandra Conunova, Lise Berthaud, Pierre Génisson and the Diotima Quartet. This recording was awarded the Diapason d’Or of the Year 2022.

Suzana Bartal has been appointed the new artistic director of the Festival Piano à Riom starting its 34th edition in 2020.

Her first album with solo works by Schumann has been released in March 2016 by Paraty (Harmonia Mundi distribution) and has been warmly received by the critics. The recording was « Coup de coeur » on Radio France Internationale and Bertrand Boissard wrote in the magazine Diapason : “The depth of her touch combines with the richness of the textures (…) the playing is characterized by its softness, seduces by its plasticity (..) assuredly, a musician.”

She performed under the baton of conductors Marc Minkowski, Christian Vasquez, Eivind Aadland, Marzena Diakun, Ariel Zuckermann, Adrien Perruchon, Roberto Fores Veses, Peter Oundjian, Eero Lehtimäki, Kensho Watanabe, Pieter-Jelle de Boer, with ensembles such as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Saarbrücken State Orchestra, the Nationaltheater Orchestra Mannheim, Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, Orchestre National d’Auvergne, Orchestre Pasdeloup, the Orchestre National d’Avignon, the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, the Joensuu Symphony Orchestra, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, the Kecskemét Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Lamoureux or the Madeira Classical Orchestra.

Suzana’s wide range of repertoire reaches from solo works and concertos to chamber music works, all of which she actively and passionately performs. She has given concerts all around the world: in Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, UK, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal, France and Romania as well as the US, China and Japan.

Suzana is also an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music and has worked with some of the most significant composers of our day, such as Thomas Adès, Eric Tanguy and Régis Campo. She performed the world premiere of Tanguy’s “Rhapsodie” for viola and piano with Lise Berthaud at the Festival de Pâques Aix-en-Provence. This premiere was described as being of a “jubilatory virtuosity” by Thierry Hillériteau (Le Figaro). She also collaborated with Oscar-winning film composer Gabriel Yared.

Extremely active as a chamber musician, Suzana has performed with violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Kristóf Baráti, Josef Spacek, Barnabás Kelemen, Alina Pogostkina, Andrey Baranov, Julia Pusker, Rosanne Philippens, Alexandra Conunova, Sayaka Shoji, Alexandra Soumm, Mayu Kishima, Déborah Nemtanu, Geneviève Laurenceau, violists Lise Berthaud, Adrien La Marca, Diyang Mei and Pierre Lenert, cellists Henri Demarquette, István Várdai, Benedict Klöckner, Claudio Bohorquez, Edgar Moreau and Aurélien Pascal, clarinetists Pierre Génisson and Raphaël Sévère, trumpet/horn player David Guerrier, the Quatuor Diotima, Calder, Adorno, Zaïde and Van Kuijk, as well as the tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac.

Suzana Bartal was the winner of the New York Concert Artists Concerto Competition in 2013 and has made her NYC debut with orchestra in 2014. She was also the winner of the 2012 Woolsey Concerto Competition. A recipient of the prestigious scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe, Suzana has also been supported by the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger, the ADAMI and the Williamson Foundation.

French-Hungarian pianist Suzana Bartal was born in Timişoara (Romania) and started her musical education in her hometown. Only three years later she became a winner of national and international competitions and gave her first solo recital at the age of 12 and had her first concerto apparition at the age of 13. In 2005 she decided to move to France where she studied with Denis Pascal, Pierre Pontier and Florent Boffard in Paris and in Lyon at the CNSMD. Between 2011 and 2014, Suzana has perfected her skills at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Peter Frankl. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale and was awarded the Harriet Gibbs Memorial Prize for excellency in studies. In 2013 – 2014 Suzana has been a Teaching Fellow at the Yale College. Many distinguished artists have influenced Suzana’s musical and artistic development, such as: Sir András Schiff, Leon Fleisher, Paul Lewis, Menahem Pressler, Jean-Claude Pennetier or Matti Raekallio, as well as the Ysaÿe Quartet, the Tokyo String Quartet or the Emerson Quartet. She has been invited to take part in the very selective International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove (UK).

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