• Tracks

Daniel Barenboim marks his new affiliation with Decca and Deutsche Grammophon with four releases - his first-ever recordings of the Chopin and Liszt Piano Concertos, and, with his inspiring West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Tchaikovsky's exhilarating Pathétique and Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra. The releases coincide with the 60th anniversary of Daniel Barenboim's performing debut. Two releases on Deutsche Grammophon will be devoted to Chopin: A solo recital recorded in Warsaw, with deeply-felt Waltzes, a Polonaise, a Fantasia, a Nocturne and the B flat minor Sonata, as well as Chopins two Concertos, accompanied by the Berlin Staatskapelle under Andris Nelsons, captured live at the Ruhr Piano Festival in July 2010. Barenboim and Boulez celebrate Liszt's 200th birthday with gripping readings of the Concertos no. 1 in E flat major and no. 2 in a major. A debut for both artists. In 1999, Daniel Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO) with the late literary critic, Edward Said. On this first of many projects to partner Barenboim with WEDO (all on Decca) are two blockbusters that WEDO will tour in May, when the album is released: Tchaikovsky's Pathétique and Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra. WEDO performs this challenging repertoire to high international standards. The Independent opened it's rave review of a Barenboim-WEDO London evening by saying, "Simply sensational! WEDO scored a bull's-eye"