Nelson Freire
Language available : englishNelson Freire was among the most admired pianists of his generation, having played with the leading orchestras and conductors in the most prestigious recital halls and in collaboration with the finest violinists, cellists, and fellow pianists. He also recorded extensively in a wide range of repertoire for numerous major labels, including Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Decca. On the latter, Freire issued an album of encores in 2019. Freire was born in Boa Esperança, Brazil, on October 8, 1944. He was amazingly precocious, taking his first piano lessons from his older sister at age three and giving his first public recital, where he played Mozart's A major Sonata, K. 331, at five. Among his earliest important piano teachers were Nise Obino and Lucia Branco. At the age of 12, he won the prestigious Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition (1957). There he performed, among other challenging pieces, the Beethoven Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), before a jury consisting of Lili Kraus, Marguerite Long, Guiomar Novaes, and other prominent pianists. He continued piano studies with Bruno Seidlhofer in Vienna under scholarship funds earned with his competition victory. In 1959, he launched his international career, touring Europe, South America, and East Asia, appearing with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors. Not satisfied with his credentials, Freire entered the Lisbon-based Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition in 1964 and took first prize. His London debut took place in 1968 and his American debut in 1970, when he played Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto, with the New York Philharmonic under Rudolf Kempe, a conductor with whom he made several successful tours, but typically with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By the 1970s, Freire was a successful recording artist who would draw particular critical acclaim for his Chopin. Soon he turned to piano duo repertory, often appearing and recording with Martha Argerich. The team's first recording, Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2, Op. 17, and Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, was released on Philips in 1982. Subsequent recordings of works by Bartók, Ravel, and others appeared over the next two decades. Freire also collaborated with violinist Gidon Kremer and cellist Mischa Maisky, and he remained active in the new century both as a soloist and duo player. In 2005, he scored critical successes at the BBC Proms in London, in Tokyo, and later on tour with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. Later releases included Chopin Adagios (2008), a Debussy album (2009), and Harmonies du Soir, featuring an all-Liszt program. In 2019, Freire issued an album of encores on Decca. Freire died on November 1, 2021, in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 77.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo Read more
Nelson Freire was among the most admired pianists of his generation, having played with the leading orchestras and conductors in the most prestigious recital halls and in collaboration with the finest violinists, cellists, and fellow pianists. He also recorded extensively in a wide range of repertoire for numerous major labels, including Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Decca. On the latter, Freire issued an album of encores in 2019.
Freire was born in Boa Esperança, Brazil, on October 8, 1944. He was amazingly precocious, taking his first piano lessons from his older sister at age three and giving his first public recital, where he played Mozart's A major Sonata, K. 331, at five. Among his earliest important piano teachers were Nise Obino and Lucia Branco. At the age of 12, he won the prestigious Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition (1957). There he performed, among other challenging pieces, the Beethoven Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), before a jury consisting of Lili Kraus, Marguerite Long, Guiomar Novaes, and other prominent pianists. He continued piano studies with Bruno Seidlhofer in Vienna under scholarship funds earned with his competition victory. In 1959, he launched his international career, touring Europe, South America, and East Asia, appearing with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors.
Not satisfied with his credentials, Freire entered the Lisbon-based Vianna da Motta International Piano Competition in 1964 and took first prize. His London debut took place in 1968 and his American debut in 1970, when he played Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto, with the New York Philharmonic under Rudolf Kempe, a conductor with whom he made several successful tours, but typically with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
By the 1970s, Freire was a successful recording artist who would draw particular critical acclaim for his Chopin. Soon he turned to piano duo repertory, often appearing and recording with Martha Argerich. The team's first recording, Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2, Op. 17, and Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, was released on Philips in 1982. Subsequent recordings of works by Bartók, Ravel, and others appeared over the next two decades. Freire also collaborated with violinist Gidon Kremer and cellist Mischa Maisky, and he remained active in the new century both as a soloist and duo player. In 2005, he scored critical successes at the BBC Proms in London, in Tokyo, and later on tour with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. Later releases included Chopin Adagios (2008), a Debussy album (2009), and Harmonies du Soir, featuring an all-Liszt program. In 2019, Freire issued an album of encores on Decca. Freire died on November 1, 2021, in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 77.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
-
Encores
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 18 okt. 2019
Choc de Classica5 de DiapasonThis release, issued to mark the 75th birthday of the great pianist Nelson Freire in 2019, is hardly a typical album of encores. A good deal of it is ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ludwig van Beethoven : Piano Concerto No.5 "Emperor" - Piano Sonata No.32 in C Minor, Op.111
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 30 sep. 2014
Choc de ClassicaBeethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor"), was the first piece Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire played in public, at the age ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: The Piano Concertos (Bonus Track Version)
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2006
Gramophone Record of the Year16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Piano Works
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2016
The great Nelson Freire waited until 2015, at the venerable age of 71 years young, to fully dedicate a record to Johann Sebastian Bach. Rather than at ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Nelson Freire: Brahms
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 25 aug. 2017
4 étoiles Classica5 de DiapasonGramophone Editor's Choice5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikThe title Brahms might seem an odd one for this collection of Brahms piano pieces, containing one piano sonata and an assortment of 12 short pieces, m ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin : Piano Sonata No.3 - Etudes Op.25
Nelson Freire
Piano solo - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2002
3F de TéléramaChoc de l'année du Monde de la MusiqueChoc du Monde de la Musique10 de Classica-RépertoireDiapason d'or de l'annéeDiapason d'orGrand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin : Piano Concerto No.2 - Ballade No.4 - Berceuse...
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2015
4 étoiles Classica24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Heitor Villa-Lobos & Friends : Brasileiro
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2012
Prise de Son d'ExceptionChoc de ClassicaDiapason d'orWhile Nelson Freire is world famous as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Frédéric Chopin, he is well known in Brazil as a brilliant exponent of ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
en concert
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by INA Mémoire vive on 8 feb. 2000
Choc du Monde de la Musique10 de RépertoireRecommandé par Classica5 de Diapason16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Harmonies du Soir
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2011
Gramophone Editor's ChoiceJust as the 2010 celebration of the bicentennial of Frédéric Chopin's birth inspired a large number of releases devoted to his piano music, 2011 marke ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No 2 - Works by Grieg & Liszt
Nelson Freire
Concerten voor klavier - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 3 jul. 2017
5 de DiapasonThese recordings reveal Nelson Freire in 1966, aged 22, making his German radio "début" (at RIAS in Berlin) with a somewhat unusual repertoire: Grieg' ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nelson Freire: Schumann Recital
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin : Les Nocturnes (Intégrale)
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 mrt. 2010
Diapason d'or16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Carnaval / Schubert: Impromptus - Freire
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Sony Classical on 15 jan. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Sonata No.2 etc
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2005
Hail the return of Nelson Freire! Of course, the great Brazilian pianist has never actually been gone. Since his debut in Vienna playing Brahms' F min ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nelson Freire Radio Days - The Concerto Broadcasts 1968-1979
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 6 okt. 2014
5 de Diapason16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nelson Freire Plays Chopin
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 6 aug. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Préludes Book 1; Children's Corner
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Villa-Lobos : Prole do Bebê, Rudepoema, As três Marias
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by WM Brazil on 1 jan. 1974
Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Rudepoêma is one of a small number of piano works known for their insurmountable technical difficulty. Composed for Arthur Rubinst ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Villa-Lobos : Prole do Bebê, Rudepoema & As três Marias - Apex (- Apex)
Nelson Freire
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 jan. 1974
Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Rudepoêma is one of a small number of piano works known for their insurmountable technical difficulty. Composed for Arthur Rubinst ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo