Eugene Albulescu
Albulescu Live
This live recording showcases two well known masterpieces: Beethoven's Appassionata and Schumann's Carnaval, performed by piano virtuoso Eugene Albulescu.
From Eugene Albulescu's liner notes:
ABOUT “LIVE”
I used to love the “live” recordings from the 50’s and 60’s. Back then, even studio recordings captured some of the “live” feeling, because editing was primitive when compared to today’s possibilities. I bemoan the influence exerted upon “live” performances by many of today’s sterile, edited studio recordings. The musical essence is often lost when we try to play note-perfect concerts, just so that our audiences can favorably compare the concerts with their CD recordings. I try to preserve in my live concerts the feeling of risk taking I used to enjoy when hearing pianists before the digital revolution. I believe this is needed for classical music to be able to still have appeal with today’s concert audiences.
This CD will hopefully capture some of that “live” feeling. We have tried to sanitize some coughs, mostly in the Carnaval, because this rendition will be subsequently used for a DVD containing the multimedia show I present as part of a recital. There was one notable omission on this CD, due to too many coughs. The Beethoven Andante Favori (originally slated to be on this album) would have stood too far out, due to an audience member’s coughing fit we could not remove, and will be instead available on my website: www.mostlypiano.com.
SILENCE AND TRACKS
With the advent of online music distribution and streaming, I felt one of the most important artistic aspects is lost -- that is the space between movements. Sometimes it is immaterial, as in the case between the Appassionata’s first and second movements, where a general break will suffice. In between the second and third movements, an “attaca” is needed, and splitting those two movements into separate tracks would leave too much to the whims software preferences, with effects such as cross fades between tracks, or worse, additional empty space, added by applications such as Apple’s I-tunes. Hence I have combined the two movements together as one track. The problem was even bigger when dealing with Schumann’s Carnaval. Various recordings lump several movements into tracks, because making individual tracks of each piece poses the same problem. In the interest of a LIVE feel to the performance, I have instead insisted that Carnaval remains ONE track only, on this recording. This poses more problems for the listener who only wants to hear a portion, but I felt the advantages of having one uninterrupted take more in touch with the artistic intention of the actual performance. I have included the exact placement of the individual Carnaval Pieces as timing details on the track for those listeners needing the exact placement of individual vignettes within Carnaval.
OTHER COMMENTS
Carnaval and Appassionata are major works in the piano repertoire, and need little introduction. The Doina is composed by my father, originally for Vibraphone and Piano, and this arrangement is one of my most favorite encores. I often get asked for a recording of this wonderful little work, so here it is!
My work at Lehigh University as Professor of Practice includes performing a yearly recital in the wonderful acoustics of Baker Hall, an auditorium seating about 1000 people. The performances range in dates from 1998-2003, and feature a New York Steinway model D. (E. A., 9/06)
Classical: Beethoven