Maria João Pires, legendary Portuguese pianist joins conductor Trevor Pinnock and the German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen in a concert, recorded at the famed Théåtre des Champs-Èlysèes in Paris last month, by the venerable Radio France Musique.
Pires, long a much admired figure on the concert stage, has trimmed back her hectic touring schedule – not retiring – but rather taking the position of Master In Residence at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo Belgium. There, she will begin a project which she has launched, the Partitura Project; an ambitious endeavor to teach piano to talented students from all over the world.
But in the meantime, this concert brings her together with another legend, Trevor Pinnock and the German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen in a concert of pieces by Wagner, Chopin and Mozart.
Starting with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, after which Pires joins the orchestra in a performance of Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto and caps it with an encore of a Chopin Waltz (Number 7). The orchestra returns to end the concert with a performance of Mozart’s Symphony Number 41 “Jupiter”.
A good, solid concert – nothing too adventuresome, but a lot of well played music, featuring two legendary artists and a pretty good little band to boot – perfect Anti-Road Rage Wednesday material.
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