Symphony No. 28
Piano Concertos Nos. 20 - 23

With this double CD Audite opens a four-part series of recordings of the Hungarian pianist Géza Anda (1921-1976) from the archives of the West German Radio Cologne. These are both studio- and live-recordings from 1952 until 1970 which have up to now remained unpublished or are premiere CD recordings. It is the aim of this edition to display a representative cross section of Anda’s diverse repertoire and also to close a delicate gap in his discography. Anda can be heard with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms and Bartók, disclosing him as one of the most important pianists of the second half of the century. Far more than a great virtuoso and a sensitive musician, Anda contained in his playing the tension between spontaneity and reflection as an expressive ideal, and thus created exemplary interpretations of the great classical, romantic and modern works for piano. Published for the very first time are the recordings of the four famous Viennese piano concertos by Mozart: Anda appears as soloist and conductor in one (KV 466 and 488) and is also joined by renowned conductors Joseph Keilberth (KV 467) and Constantin Silvestri (KV 482) together with Camerata Academica Salzburg (today: Camerata Salzburg) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne (today: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln). Finally, Anda can be experienced for the first time as a conductor in an impetuous recording of Mozart’s Symphony in C major KV 200.