Piano Concertos - Grieg, Ravel, Prokofiev

Edvard Grieg - Piano concerto in a minor op. 16 (1868), Maurice Ravel - Piano concerto in G major (1931), Sergei Prokofiev - Piano concerto No. 1 in D flat major op. 10 (1912)

Ivan Moravec - piano. Czech Philharmonic / Karel Ančerl (Prokofiev), Yuri Simonov (Ravel). Prague Symphony Orchestra / Miklós Erdélyi (Grieg)

The highly valued discography of Ivan Moravec (1930-2015), one of the 20th century piano legends, comes to a great extent from recording studios. However, thanks to radio microphones some of his remarkable concert performances in Prague concert halls could be retrieved as well. From 1962 on, he performed twenty times at the Prague Spring festival alone. He played Prokofiev's first concerto at the festival in May 1967 and the recording captures one of the top - and also one of the last - performances of Karel Ančerl with the Czech Philharmonic before his leaving for Toronto. The Ravel recording from May 1974 represents another unforgettable musical experience and no doubt also one of the best Ravel creations ever performed by Moravec. All three recordings are published for the first time; what is more, the one of the Grieg concert played in December 1984 is the only recording made public by the virtuoso pianist. Microphones have captured Ivan Moravec in his top shape, his play possessing romantic flight, ferocity and a wide range of timbre nuances on the one hand, and remarkable preciseness on the other. At every moment, Moravec is deeply sunk in the substance of the work he performs. By this threesome of recordings, Supraphon supplements the pianist's existing discography by unexpected gems found in the radio archives, undoubtedly pleasing all of his admirers.

Moravec's inconspicuous artistry on hitherto unpublished recordings.