Sofja Gulbadamova

Sofja Gülbadamova – Dohnányi: Piano Works (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:42 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capriccio

Ernst von Dohnányi displayed an interest in a range of inventions throughout his life, so it’s unsurprising that around 1909–10 he became one of the main promoters of pianos that used a semicircular keyboard. There had long been experimentation in creating the most comfortable keyboard possible, with all the keys at the same distance from the pianist, facilitating the same body and hand positions throughout the keyboard’s full range. The Viennese manufacturer Ludwig Bösendorfer began making pianos with a concave keyboard (Bogenklaviatur) in 1910, and Dohnányi used them exclusively during the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When he moved to Budapest at the end of 1915, one of his own pianos was the short Clutsam-Bösendorfer, which is currently owned by the Budapest Museum of Music History. This album offers the first recording of this special instrument following a lengthy restoration.

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Sofja Gülbadamova – Dohnányi: Concertos (2022-02-04)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:07:57 minutes | 570 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © CapriccioNR

Of the works Ernst von Dohnányi wrote for the stage, only his ballet pantomime The Veil of Pierrette receive any particular acclaim. His concert music, meanwhile, was much more warmly received. With this already sixth recording of his late romantical, sensual music, deeply rooted in the Austro-German classical tradition, Capriccio presents three of his concertante works. Apart from two Piano Concertos and two Violin Concertos, Ernő Dohnányi wrote three more, which are concertos in all but name “Variations” (for piano and orchestra), “Concertino” (for harp and chamber orchestra), and “Konzertstück” (for cello and orchestra); the names subtly hinting at their specific character.
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Sofja Gülbadamova – Idylle (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:17:54 minutes | 638 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © haenssler CLASSIC

The selection of the piano music to be heard on this album was made by the pianist in a very personal way. She describes it as a “dialogue with one’s own soul” and music that “in a certain way makes one particularly happy”. After the success of the CD “Hungarian Melody” released in February 2020, this is the artist’s second release on hänssler CLASSIC. Sofja Gülbadamova has won a number of competitions in Europe and North America. She collaborates with a number of conductors and orchestras and has been artistic director of the International Brahms Festival Mürzzuschlag (Austria) since 2017. She has been acclaimed in the press for the “poetic beauty” of her playing and her “striking musicality, tonal imagination, deeply relaxed pianism and astonishingly diverse palette.

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