Decca Legends: Grieg & Schumann Piano Concertos — Radu Lupu / LSO / André Previn Audio CD

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD (Historical Reissue)
• Brand / Label: Decca Legends (A Universal Music Company)
• Composers: Edvard Grieg (1843–1907), Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
• Soloist: Radu Lupu (piano)
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: André Previn
• Original Recordings: January 1973 (Grieg) & June 1973 (Schumann), Kingsway Hall, London
• This Edition: 2000 (Decca Record Company Limited)
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Romantic Piano Concerto
• Catalog Number: 466 383-2
• UPC: 028946638323
• Condition: Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total Runtime: 61:25
• Audio: ADD (analogue recording, digital remaster); remastered at 96 kHz / 24-bit from original analogue mastertapes
• Booklet: Detailed brochure with rare photos and technical recording information
• Made and printed in Germany
• Packaging: Standard jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped

Overview

Two A-minor piano concertos — Schumann's and Grieg's — recorded in a single year by Radu Lupu with the London Symphony Orchestra under André Previn at Kingsway Hall, and considered among the finest recordings of both works on disc. Gramophone called the Grieg "boldly and imaginatively presented by both Lupu and Previn," and the decades since have not diminished that verdict.

Lupu's playing in both works is immediately recognisable: a tone that is warm rather than brilliant, phrasing that breathes naturally, and a refusal to impose interpretive machinery on music that rewards understatement. The Schumann concerto in particular — a work that can easily become either sentimental or overly assertive — lands exactly right in his hands: the slow movement is genuinely singing, the finale has momentum without bluster. The Grieg, which is the more familiar of the two, benefits from Previn's idiomatic support and the LSO's ensemble playing at the peak of its Kingsway Hall period.

The 96kHz / 24-bit remastering from original analogue mastertapes is audibly excellent — the piano is present and natural, the orchestral depth is preserved. This Decca Legends reissue comes with a detailed booklet including rare session photographs and full technical recording documentation, making it one of the more carefully produced reissues in the series.

Interesting Facts

• Radu Lupu (1945–2022) was a Romanian pianist who won the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1969; his Decca recordings from the 1970s are consistently cited among the finest piano recordings of that decade.
• André Previn (1929–2019) served as Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1968 to 1979; the Kingsway Hall sessions from this period produced some of the most celebrated orchestral recordings in Decca's catalogue.
• Kingsway Hall in London, used for these 1973 sessions, was Decca's preferred recording venue through much of the 1960s and 1970s, valued for its natural acoustic warmth; it was demolished in 1994.
• Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, was composed across 1841–1845 and is one of only a handful of piano concertos Schumann completed; it remains one of the most performed and recorded concertos in the Romantic repertoire.
• Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, was composed in 1868 when the composer was 24; it is the only concerto he completed, and its opening descending piano flourish is among the most immediately recognisable in all of classical music.
• Both concertos share the same key — A minor — which may partly explain why they have been paired on disc since the LP era; the tonal and emotional kinship between the two works makes for a coherent and satisfying programme.

Track Listing

Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (movements not individually titled on packaging)

Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (movements not individually titled on packaging)

Total: 61:25

Producers: Christopher Raeburn (Schumann), Michael Woolcock (Grieg) Recording engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson & John Dunkerley (Schumann), Philip Wade (Grieg)

Publishers

℗ 1973 The Decca Record Company Limited, London. © 2000 The Decca Record Company Limited, London. A Universal Music Company. Made in Germany.

A benchmark recording — heard it before or just discovering it? A short note helps other collectors.