The Mnchner Philharmoniker are continuing to open up their vast archives, giving listeners the opportunity to enjoy one of the richest collections of recordings by legendary artists. This recording of Mozart's 'Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 26' allows listeners to relive a remarkable concert evening with Friedrich Gulda as conductor and soloist at once.

Edgar Moreau performs two cello concertos which bravely and wittily challenge convention. Offenbach’s ambitious Grand Concerto in G major culminates in military fireworks, while Friedrich Gulda’s Concerto for Cello, Wind Orchestra and Band – written 130 years later – is a dazzling stylistic kaleidoscope. Moreau is joined by conductor Raphaël Merlin and the dynamic orchestral collective Les Forces Majeures.

This is the more recent re-issue, and much cheaper version, of an older issue of the same recording. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra directed by Harnoncourt and Friedrich Gulda brought off some finest Mozart playing in the two late concerti - No. 23 and No. 26. There are numerous No. 23 recordings. This one is among the top ones. However, the less popular No. 26 is the one that steals the show in this recording

For many decades the orchestras of the German broadcasting service SWR have worked together with many famous musicians from all over the world, including the outstanding pianists selected for this collection, among them Clara Haskil, Jörg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alicia de Larrocha, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Géza Anda. Furthermore, Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-1991) is regarded as one of the supreme keyboard masters of the 20th century and must feature in any comparative survey of performances of the central repertoire from Beethoven to Brahms.

F. Gulda was, according to eminent cellist Pierre Fournier, the foremost pianist of his generation. And HIS generation emcompassed big names like Alfred Brendel, Ingrid Haebler, Jorg Demus, and perhaps, even Maurizio Pollini. It is a great pity that Gulda wasn't in league with 'the' eminent conductor Herbert von Karajan. This precluded many otherwise hot exposures of Gulda in discography. If pianists like Uchida could leave a complete set of Mozart sonatas, if Christoph Eschenbach could leave yet another complete set with good critical acclaim, certainly Friedrich Gulda's Mozart sonatas (and concerti) would have been hailed by ALL as the greatest ever!

Friedrich Gulda first made his mark in the world of classical music before making the first of many excursions into jazz. This 1956 date at the original Birdland in New York City features the pianist with some well-chosen sidemen: alto saxophonist Phil Woods, tenor saxophonist Seldon Powell, trumpeter Idrees Sulieman, trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, bassist Aaron Bell, and drummer Nick Stabulas. Gulda's originals dominate the set, including the cool ballad "Dark Glow" and several strident bop numbers ("Scruby," "Dodo," and "New Shoes"); his septet also romps through "A Night in Tunisia" and "Bernie's Tune."

Gulda was equipped with a special affinity and an ideal mindset for Mozart's music, with a special closeness of the interpreter to the composer: each garnered acclaim as a child prodigy and were gifted improvisers with a kind of provocateur and penchant for irreverent humor. His 1974-1975 Vienna Musikvereinssa collaboration with the Wiener Philharmoniker & Claudio Abbado is considered "the work of an artist entirely sure of his vision" (Gramophone).

This is the first of four releases that feature the SWR recordings of Friedrich Gulda. All recordings on this album are being released here for the first time. The recording of the "Inner Circle" on album 7 is to date the only one of Guldas jazz ensemble. The series contains, among solo repertoire and concerts, also compositions by Freidrich Gulda himself. The whole series is thus an extensive documentation of Guldas music universe. Friedrich Gulda began his career in music studying at the Vienna Music Academy. He went on to win first prize at the 1946 Geneva International Music Competition, and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1950. While most renowned for his Mozart and Beethoven interpretations, he is also remembered for his free improvisation and jazz interests.

Gulda, a brilliant master of rhythm, uncompromising Bach interpreter and jazz musician, is heard at his best when performing Chopin, whose works appear in Guldas earliest concert programmes. His secret in playing Chopin with so much vitality lay in the inimitable mix of rhythmic strictness, cantabile tenderness and controlled outbursts. Beethoven was an important composer for Gulda. The theme and variation form afforded both of them the opportunity to demonstrate their respective abilities and showcase their remarkable skills. And what better showcase than the Diabelli Variations? Although this fourth instalment of the SWR Gulda Edition includes only well-known compositions, Friedrich Gulda's extraordinary sense of sound, sophisticated touch and rhythmic vitality coax new facets out of these works so that we hear them from a fresh perspective.

Believed to have been composed between August 1775 and January 1777, the Concerto In E Flat Major for two pianos technically counts as being the tenth of Mozart's twenty-seven concertos, that huge and prodigious body that would set the standards for all piano concertos from Mozart's time forward. Although it is not performed with the same frequency as his later works (especially the final eight concertos, 20-27), this "Double" piano concerto, believed to have been composed by Mozart for performance by him and his sister Maria Anna ("Nannerl"), is nevertheless a fascinating experiment of Mozart's, one that requires a pair of solid keyboard virtuosos to do (and for the composer's Seventh piano concerto, you needed three soloists).