Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 54 & 78 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 36

As the climax of his hugely successful 2018/19 season, in which he celebrated both his sixtieth birthday and the fortieth anniversary of the launch of his sensational career, legendary Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich releases an eagerly-anticipated new recording on Sony Classical. This will be his first new album since 1998.

The repertoire comprises two sonatas by Beethoven - No. 22, Op. 54, and No. 24, Op. 78 – and a work written just over a hundred years later, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata Op. 36.

Pogorelich has chosen these works to explore the profound influence of Beethoven’s revolutionary compositional techniques (which one writer calls ‘specifically pianistic forms of musical thought’) on a later generation of composers. His uniquely powerful interpretation casts a new light on the understanding of these fascinating, though undeservedly lesser-known, masterpieces.

Pogorelich’s career continues with unabated energy and dynamism across all corners of the globe. After a performance at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival this summer, his further recitals and concerts during the 2019/20 season will take him to the principal music centres around Europe and the Far East, including the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Centre For The Performing Arts in Beijing, the Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, and more.

He continues, as ever, to strive for greater self-development and pianistic perfection. His artistically uncompromising – and sometimes even unorthodox – approach to music making, has garnered him legions of admirers in the last forty years. ‘A burnished tone… he has a million colours and touches at his disposal, and uses them all’ wrote Gramophone of a live performance in London’s Royal Festival Hall.

The Belgrade-born pianist began his musical training aged seven. He made his concert debut at ten, and then at the age of twelve, he moved to Moscow to continue his studies. There, he developed a profound appreciation of the Western tradition within the Russian school of pianism.

His rich and varied discography is unique in terms of the originality and forcefulness of his concept behind each and every album. And now, Bogdan Roscic, President of Sony Classical, is thrilled to have tempted Pogorelich back to the world of the microphone. ‘Ivo Pogorelich’s discography is one of the seven wonders of recorded music, and I have been trying to add to it for a long time now. We couldn’t be happier that Sony Classical will be releasing his new work.’