Couleurs Artur Pizarro, Bamberger Symphoniker & Thomas Rösner

• Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963): Sinfonietta, FP 141:
• 1Sinfonietta, FP 141: I. Allegro con fuoco08:15
• 2Sinfonietta, FP 141 : II. Molto vivace06:11
• 3Sinfonietta, FP 141 : III. Andante cantabile06:51
• 4Sinfonietta, FP 141: IV. Très vite et très gai07:14
• Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, FP 146 :
• 5Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, FP 146 : I. Allegretto09:43
• 6Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, FP 146: II. Andante con moto05:02
• 7Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, FP 146: III. Rondeau a la française04:09
• Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950): Vers la Voûte Étoilée, Op. 129:
• 8Vers la Voûte Étoilée, Op. 12912:21
• Sur les Flots Lointains, Op. 130:
• 9Sur les Flots Lointains, Op. 13005:37
• Total Runtime01:05:23

Info for Couleurs

Following the success of Artur Pizarro’s recordings of Rachmaninoff’s Complete Piano Music on Odradek, the “poet amongst pianists” returns with Poulenc’s Piano Concerto. The last of Poulenc’s concertos, this work is jaunty and playful whilst exuding an irresistible Romanticism. Poulenc’s Sinfonietta is a full-scale symphony in all but name, its self-deprecating title a reflection of the composer’s sense of humour and the work’s colourful, urbane character.

Under the musical direction of Thomas Rösner, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra presents a CD with an interesting programme of French orchestral music of the 20th century. Rösner’s account of the Sinfonietta by Francis Poulenc is colourful and lively. The Piano Concerto, first performed by Poulenc himself in 1950, is played by Artur Pizarro, but the performance cannot keep up with the Rogé/Dutoit recording nor with that of LeSage/Denève. This is primarily due to the diffuse and not very transparent sound recording. The Decca technicians have integrated Rogé’s piano much better into the orchestral sound and captured the orchestral sound more slenderly.

Overall, Rösner succeeds better in the two Koechlin works because they demand less elegance, which the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra does not show enough of in Poulenc.

Vers la voûte étoilée op. 129 and Sur les flots lointains op. 130 live from other sounds, as conductor Rösner writes in the booklet: « Koechlin turns out to be a tireless sound magician who does not shy away from extreme registers and dynamics in the instruments. This produces completely unusual and sometimes organ-like sound mixtures ». This is exactly what he convincingly realizes in his interpretations.

Artur Pizarro, piano
Bamberger Symphoniker
Thomas Rösner, conductor

Artur Pizarro
Renowned for his lyrical poeticism and outstanding virtuosity, Artur Pizarro won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990. He performs regularly throughout the world with the leading orchestras and the world’s most distinguished conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Franz Welser-Möst, Ilan Volkov, Tugan Sokhiev, Yakov Kreizberg, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Libor Pešek, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Charles Mackerras.

He frequently appears as a recitalist and chamber musician, and in the former capacity has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals including Washington’s Kennedy Center, the Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, Neues Gewandhaus, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Théâtre du Châtelet, Musée d’Orsay, Zürich Tonhalle, the BBC Proms, and the NHK and Orchard Halls in Japan. His regular chamber music appearances have partnered him with Raphael Oleg, Christian Altenburger, Truls Mørk, Toby Hoffmann, and the St Lawrence, Muir and Petersen Quartets. In 2005 he founded the Pizarro Trio with violinist Raphael Oleg and cellist Josephine Knight, who performed their début recital at London’s Wigmore Hall.

Artur Pizarro has recorded extensively, with his first volume of Rodrigo’s complete piano works for Naxos (8.557272) chosen as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine.

Thomas Rösner
Born in Vienna, Thomas Rösner conducted his first orchestral concerts at the age of 14. He studied in Vienna and attended masterclasses held by Ilya Musin, Myung-Whun Chung and Hans Graf.

In 1998, Fabio Luisi invited Thomas Rösner to take over a tour with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at short notice. That was the beginning of his international career.

Thomas Rösner has celebrated major successes at different opera houses: He had his operatic debut in the United States in 2013/14 at Houston Grand Opera with “Die Fledermaus” and returned to Europe with “Fidelio” at Zurich Opera House, where he also conducted “Cosi fan tutte”. La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels is where he conducted “L’Elisir d’Amore” and where he worked with Michael Haneke on “Cosi fan tutte”. Another of Rösner’s big successes was “Die Fledermaus” at the Stuttgart State Opera.

He also guested at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (“Königskinder”), New National Theatre Tokyo (“Salome”), Welsh National Opera (“Hänsel und Gretel”, “Die Fledermaus”), Geneva’s Grand Théâtre (“The Miraculous Mandarin”, “Bluebeard’s Castle”), Bregenz Festival, Glyndebourne Festival, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Edinburgh International Festival, and many others.

Between 2000 and 2004, Thomas Rösner was “chef associé” at the Orchestre National de Bordeux, as well as musical director of the “operklosterneuburg” festival. From 2005 until 2011, he worked as chief conductor of Biel Solothurn Symphonic Orchestra in Switzerland.

His latest work in the symphonic field includes concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Prague Philharmonia and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, as well conducting at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen.

Thomas Rösner has conducted numerous orchestras, such as Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Wiener Symphoniker, Bamberger Symphoniker, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Sinfonietta Israel.

His current and future projects include conducting at the Semperoper Dresden, La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, Houston Grand Opera, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Bejing, as well as concerts with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, Violons du Roy in Montréal, Orquesta de Estremadura, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania and Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, or CD recordings with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Among others, his discography includes “Il Trovatore” with the Wiener Symphoniker, works by Paul Kletzki with de Bamberger Symphoniker and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. His CD “Haydn Arias & Overtures” was the winner of the Juno Award in Toronto.

Thomas Rösner is the artistic director of the Beethoven Philharmonie.

This album contains no booklet.