CLASSICAL MUSIC - FRIEDRICH GULDA: CONCERT FOR CELLO AND WIND ORCHESTRA

The internationally-renowned cellist, Heinrich Schiff, is the soloist in a performance of Friedrich Gulda’s Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra, which the composer conducts himself.

This programme was recorded live from a concert given in the Munich Philharmonie concert hall.

Friedrich Gulda (16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist who performed in both the classical and jazz fields.

Born in Vienna as the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano from Felix Pazofsky at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium, aged 7; in 1942, he entered the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied piano and musical theory under Bruno Seidlhofer and Joseph Marx.

Although most famous for his Beethoven interpretations, Gulda also performed the music of J. S. Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel.

He expressed a wish to die on the birthday of the composer he most adored, Mozart, and in fact did so, on 27 January 2000, at the age of 69, following heart failure. Gulda is buried in the cemetery of Steinbach near Attersee, Austria.

Heinrich Schiff (born 18 November 1951, Gmunden, Austria) is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra and made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971. He studied conducting with Hans Swarovsky and made his conducting debut in 1986.

Schiff was Artistic Director of the Northern Sinfonia from 1990 to 1996, and recorded with them for the NMC label.. He also held chief conductorships with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra (Sjællands Symfoniorkester; 1996-1999) and the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur.

In 2004, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and served in the post from 2005 to 2008. He stood down from the post in 2008 for health reasons.

Schiff plays the "Mara" Stradivarius (1711) and "Sleeping Beauty" made by Montagnana in Venice in 1739. His recording of the Bach Cello Suites won prizes, and his recording of the Shostakovich concertos won the Grand Prix du Disque. His recording of the Brahms Double Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Wolfgang Sawallisch won the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis. Composers who have written cello concertos for Schiff include John Casken and Friedrich Cerha.

Source: Wikipedia