Rachmaninoff: 24 Préludes Boris Giltburg

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3:
• 1 Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor. Prélude 04:12
• 10 Préludes, Op. 23:
• 2 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor. Largo 03:39
• 3 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 2 in B-Flat Major. Maestoso 03:36
• 4 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 3 in D Minor. Tempo di minuetto 04:17
• 5 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 4 in D Major. Andante cantabile 04:05
• 6 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 5 in G Minor. Alla marcia 03:49
• 7 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 6 in E-Flat Major. Andante 02:52
• 8 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 7 in C Minor. Allegro 02:39
• 9 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 8 in A-Flat Major. Allegro vivace 03:44
• 10 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 9 in E-Flat Minor. Presto 02:10
• 11 10 Préludes, Op. 23: No. 10 in G-Flat Major. Largo 03:23
• 13 Préludes, Op. 32:
• 12 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 1 in C Major. Allegro vivace 01:15
• 13 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 2 in B-Flat Minor. Allegretto 02:53
• 14 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 3 in E Major. Allegro vivace 02:42
• 15 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 4 in E Minor. Allegro con brio 05:10
• 16 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 5 in G Major. Moderato 03:10
• 17 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 6 in F Minor. Allegro appassionato 01:38
• 18 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 7 in F Major. Moderato 02:09
• 19 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 8 in A Minor. Vivo 01:58
• 20 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 9 in A Major. Allegro moderato 03:05
• 21 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 10 in B Minor. Lento 05:40
• 22 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 11 in B Major. Allegretto 02:54
• 23 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor. Allegro 02:20
• 24 13 Préludes, Op. 32: No. 13 in D-Flat Major. Grave 05:13
• Total Runtime 01:18:33

Info for Rachmaninoff: 24 Préludes

Written over a period of 18 years, Rachmaninov’s sets of Préludes are a mirror and a record of his compositional development. With so rich a variety of character, colour, texture and mood, no two préludes are fully alike, and differentiation of tempo and register ensures that each prélude’s character is clearly defined. The first eleven pieces were conceived by Rachmaninov as a single cycle, and their full-hearted Romanticism contrasts with the significantly more angular, modernistic Op. 32. Whether evoking ballad or bell toll, the exotic or folk influences, the Préludes stand in the great tradition of works by Bach and Chopin written in all 24 major and minor keys.

Boris Giltburg’s Rachmaninov recordings for Naxos received numerous praises and awards. Recently he won Best Soloist Recording (20th/21st century) at the inaugural Opus Klassik Awards for his recording of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Carlos Miguel Prieto, coupled with the Études-tableaux, Op. 33 (8.573629). In May 2018 Naxos released his recording of the Third Piano Concerto and Corelli Variations with the same forces (8.573630), which has already garnered spectacular reviews including a Gramophone Choice award. His recording of the Études-tableaux, Op. 39 and Moments musicaux was a Gramophone ‘Recording of the Month’ (June 2016) and BBC Music Magazine ‘Instrumental Choice’.

In January 2019 Naxos released Boris’ recording of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes (8.573981), which was praised by The Sunday Times (London) as ‘a Liszt disc of the most compelling brilliance.’

Boris Giltburg is lauded across the globe as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling musician. He has won numerous awards, including the Second (and audience) Prize at the Rubinstein Competition in 2011, and in 2013 he won First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition, catapulting his career to a new level. In 2015 he began a long-term recording plan with Naxos. At home with repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Shostakovich, in recent years he has been increasingly recognised as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninov. Boris is an avid amateur photographer and blogger, writing about classical music for a non-specialist audience.

Boris Giltburg, piano

Boris Giltburg
Born in 1984 in Moscow, Boris Giltburg began his piano studies with his mother at the age of five. He has lived in Tel Aviv since early childhood, where he studied with Arie Vardi. He has received many awards for international competitions, notably at Santander (top prize and Audience Prize, 2002) and the Rubinstein (2nd prize and Best Classical Concerto, 2011). In 2013 he received First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, as a result of which his already flourishing international career has been catapulted to a new level, with a packed diary of additional concert engagements across the globe. In the same year he was nominated for a Classic Brit (Critics’ Award).

Since his breakthrough appearance with the Philharmonia in 2007, Giltburg has been an annual visitor to the Royal Festival Hall in London, and made his BBC Proms debut in 2010 with the BBC Scottish Symphony. Last season he made his first concerto appearance in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, and gave his London Philharmonic debut. He is a popular guest with many UK orchestras and has also appeared with DSO Berlin, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Prague Symphony, to name a few. In autumn 2013 he plays for the first time at the Vienna Musikverein and debuts with the St Petersburg Philharmonic.

Giltburg made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic in February 2005, and regularly appears with all the major orchestras and in the leading recital series in Israel, as well as playing chamber music with members of the Israel Philharmonic. Having toured the USA as a teenager with the Israel Chamber, he made his North American orchestra debut in 2007 with the Indianapolis Symphony. In January 2014 he appears with the Seattle Symphony, and in 2015 with the Baltimore Symphony. He made his Tokyo debut in 2005, toured China for the first time in 2007, returning to give a recital at the NCPA in Beijing last season, and he played with the Hong Kong Philharmonic in 2010. He has toured South America several times every season since 2002. He has collaborated with conductors such as Alsop, Brabbins, De Waart, Dohnanyi, Entremont, Fedoseyev, Neeme Jaervi, Karabits, Krivine, Lintu, Luisotti, Petrenko, Saraste, Segerstam, Sokhiev, Soustrot, and Tortelier.

Giltburg has played recitals to audiences across Europe in major venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Munich Herkulessaal, Paris Louvre, Zurich Tonhalle, Wigmore Hall, Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Madrid Sony Auditorium. Festival appearances have included the Klavierfest am Ruhr, Schwetzingen, Luzern, Piano aux Jacobins and Cheltenham. Highlights of 2013/14 include recitals at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts, and a return to London’s Southbank Centre (International Piano Series).

In August 2012 Giltburg released the Prokofiev ‘War’ sonatas on the Orchid label to excellent reviews worldwide, and appearing in Gramophone as ‘Editor’s Choice’: “These performances of Prokofiev’s three ‘War’ Sonatas eclipse all others on record – even those tirelessly and justifiably celebrated performances by Richter and Gilels” (Gramophone, October 2012). For his next CD release (September 2013) he has recorded sonatas by Rachmaninov, Liszt and Grieg.

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