Idil Biret
Turkish pianist Idil Biret is a fixture of the Naxos catalog and its completist enterprises, having recorded the collected piano works of Chopin and Brahms for the label. Between 1994 and 2008, she recorded a cycle of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas for her own IBA (Idil Biret Archives) label. She has appeared with most of the world's major orchestras and presented recitals in many countries, with a notable high point being a complete performance of Liszt's brutally difficult transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies at the 1986 Montpellier Festival in France. Studio performances of those transcriptions were recorded for EMI and released on the IBA label. Biret was, in short, one of the world's top-rank pianists, not a star whose name was familiar even to casual listeners, but a versatile performer whose capabilities were well known to enthusiasts.
Born November 21, 1941, in Ankara, Turkey, Biret was a classic child prodigy. Turks called her the Turkish Mozart, and when she was eight the financially strapped Turkish Parliament voted a special appropriation to make possible her musical education in Europe. Hypersensitive to music as a baby, she gained the ability to hear a tune and reproduce it on the piano when she was only two. She had an uncanny ability to learn music in her mind without practicing it at the keyboard, delivering it perfectly formed to the amazement of onlookers. Biret's first teacher in France was the famed pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, under whose tutelage she blazed through the curriculum at the Paris Conservatory. She took three first prizes there at 15 and began her professional career the following year. Biret later studied with German pianist Wilhelm Kempff, who called her his favorite disciple.
One major event of her early career was a series of concerts she gave in Moscow in 1960, organized by Russian pianist Emil Gilels. She would go on to play over 100 concerts in Russia. In 1963 Biret made her U.S. debut with the Boston Symphony in Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3, a trademark work in her repertoire. However, in addition to her Chopin and Brahms cycles, Biret was known for performing and recording contemporary music. She recorded extremely adventurous music for composer Ilhan Mimaroglu's label Finnadar in the 1970s, and her 1995 Naxos disc of Pierre Boulez's three sonatas won France's Golden Diapason award.
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Idil Biret - Archive Edition (Volume 8)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Dec 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idil Biret - Archive Edition (Volume 1)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Dec 21, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven Edition (Volume 3)
Idil Biret, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Concertos - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Dec 4, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Polonaises (Volume 2)
Classical - Released by Naxos on Jul 10, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Become an Instant Expert: Chopin
Anonyme, Idil Biret, Maria Kliegel, Bernd Glemser, Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Stankovsky
Classical - Released by Naxos Special Projects on Jul 23, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky, Glazunov & Balakirev: Piano Works (Live at Lille Festival, 1993)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Sep 24, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Easy-Listening Piano Classics
Idil Biret, Christian Kohn, Matthies Silke-Thora
Classical - Released by Naxos on Feb 23, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
İdil Biret Archive Edition, Vol. 18
Idil Biret, London String Quartet
Chamber Music - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Feb 5, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
İdil Biret Solo Edition, Vol. 8
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jan 6, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idil Biret (Solo Edition - Volume 7)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Nov 25, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idil Biret - Archive Edition (Volume 15)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Sep 2, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Solo edition (Volume 6)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jun 3, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, Variations on a Theme by Paganini & 8 Klavierstücke (Live)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jan 8, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idil Biret - Archive Edition (Volume 13)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Dec 26, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Variations Abegg - Fantasie - Sonate n°2
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jul 2, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Biret Archive Edition (Volumes 9 & 10)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Aug 1, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Idil Biret - Archive Edition (Volume 6)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto Edition (Volume 2)
Idil Biret, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Emil Tabakov
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Jun 15, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour piano (Concerto Edition - Volume 1)
Idil Biret, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Concertos - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Apr 8, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven Edition (Volume 19)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Mar 24, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven Edition (Volume 17)
Classical - Released by Idil Biret Archive on Nov 16, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo