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200g Vinyl Plated and Pressed at Quality RecordPressings!
Mastered For Vinyl by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio!
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 ‘Waldstein’ & Stravinsky:Three Movements from Petrouchka
Hyperion Knight pianist / Wilson Audiophile Recordings
Pianist Hyperion Knight was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area. Hestarted piano lessons at age 4 and debuted professionally at 14 in San Rafael,California, playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. He earned his Bachelor ofMusic degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, his Master of ArtsDegree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and his doctorate at 22 from thesame institution. Appropriate to this recording, his dissertation was onBeethoven’s “Waldstein” piano sonata. In 1983 he was appointed principal pianistwith the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra.
For this recording a custom-built 9-foot concert grand piano was used. Thisunique instrument, built by Sheldon Smith in his Berkeley, Calif., workshop where the recording also took place has a powerful lower register, whichprovides a substantial left-hand foundation. The upper registers are somewhatless damped and more ringing than is typical of contemporary pianos.
Schoeps omnidirectional condenser microphones, in a spaced pair, were used inconjunction with vacuum tube record amplifiers to capture a harmonically richand accurate sound.
About the performance:
BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C Major, Op. 53: When Beethoven left Bonn in 1792,few could have envisioned the titanic creations which would follow his arrivalin Vienna. The Count Ferdinand von Waldstein could hardly have foreseen theprophetic nature of his parting words to Beethoven: “Mozart’s genius is stillmourning the death of his ward. In the inexhaustible Haydn he found a refuge butno employment… Through unremitting industry you shall receive Mozarts spiritfrom the hands of Haydn.” One can only imagine the exhilaration with which theCount must have greeted the sonata whose dedication immortalized his name.
STRAVINSKY: Trois Movements de Petrouchka The trilogy of ballets whichStravinsky wrote for the famed Ballet Russe during the years 1910-1914 are amilestone in the history of music. Each in its own way makes a uniquecontribution to the evolution of music in the twentieth century. “LOiseau deFeu” (1910) demonstrated to the world that Stravinsky was an orchestrator whoseinnovations would broaden the spectrum of the symphonic expression, evensurpassing the achievements of his mentor, Rimsky-Korsakov. The early successesof the “Firebird”, however, were only a prelude to the full realization ofStravinskys artistic vision. Perhaps no moment in the history of music exceptthe “Eroica.” has had the revolutionary impact of “Le Sacre du Printemps”(1914).
Features:
200g Vinyl
Plated and Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
Mastered for vinyl by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Musicians:
Hyperion Knight, piano
Selections:
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata in C Major, Op. 53
1. Allegro Con Brio
2 Adagio Molto
3. Allegretto Moderato
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka
1. Danse Russe
2. Chez Petrouchka
3. La Semaine Grass
