MP3 Live in Recital - CLASSICAL: Keyboard Music

An electrifying live solo debut performance by International Prokofiev Competition Gold Medalist, Robert Edward Thies. Thies was the first American pianist since Van Cliburn to win a competition on Russian soil.

14 MP3 Songs
CLASSICAL: Keyboard Music, CLASSICAL: Twentieth Century



Details:
At LAST we have a recording from the brilliant American pianist, Robert Edward Thies! It would almost seem that he has avoided doing a studio recording for so many years, instead favoring live performance. He appears not only as a soloist with orchestra, but most often in collaboration with Los Angeles's finest musicians. How lucky we are that he has authorized this recording for release.

This CD is a live performance of Thies (pronounced: 'Theece') in recital back in 2001. Because it's a live performance, there are no edits that inevitably exist on studio recordings...the CD came directly from a Digital Audio transfer, and aside from some mastering, this is an honest representation of Robert in live performance. The performances are electrifying, beautiful, sincere, and unaffected. And the spontaneity of the live performance comes through so clearly that one feels they are hearing the pieces for the first time. At a running time of over 79 minutes, this recording is a gift indeed!

Notes on the Performer:

A pianist of âunerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power,â [Los Angeles Times] Robert Edward Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburnâs famed triumph in Moscow in 1958.

Praised for his âthoughtful and intensely moving interpretationsâ Thies enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His concerto repertoire includes over thirty-five works, spanning 200 years. He demonstrated exceptional versatility when in one season alone he performed thirteen different concertos, garnering consistent critical acclaim. He has appeared with such orchestras as the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, LiepÄja Symphony (Latvia), Mexico City Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Mexico, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Fort Worth Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic. His concerts have been broadcast throughout the United States, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Bolivia, Hungary, Mexico, and New Zealand.

Mr. Thies is a frequent recitalist in the United States and abroad, and he is known for his genuine interpretations of intriguing and delicately balanced programs. He made his South American debut in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2002, and followed this with a European tour. Under the sponsorship of Community Concerts, he completed a forty-city tour of the United States in 2001. In May 1999, he was honored with a special invitation to perform in the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, built for Empress Catherine the Great.

A dedicated chamber musician, Thies continues to expand his already impressive repertoire and collaborates with many esteemed musicians. He has appeared with established ensembles such as the Angeles, Calder, and New Hollywood String Quartets, and has also performed on the chamber series of Camerata Pacifica, Mladi, Dilijan and Jacaranda. He is founder and artistic director of The Thies Consort which performs a wide range of works of varying instrumentation and size, thus allowing for innovative and unique programming with musical continuity based on a style, composer, or other concept.

Thiesâs âgrace and unsurpassed lyricismâ are in high demand at festivals and special celebrations. In 2002, in conjunction with the Hollywood premiere of Roman Polanskiâs film The Pianist, he performed Wladislaw Szpilmanâs Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. That same year Thies earned national recognition for his collaboration with noted cultural historian and author, Joseph Horowitz, in the Pacific Symphonyâs DvoÅák in America festival. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Arnold Schoenbergâs death, Thies was invited to Mexico Cityâs Palacio de Bellas Artes in 2001 to perform the composerâs seldom-heard Piano Concerto with the National Symphony of Mexico. During the fall of 1997 Mr. Thies worked alongside distinguished Polish composer Henryk Górecki in the United States premiere of his Sonata for Piano. Thies has performed at the music festivals of Ravinia, Aspen, Sedona, Cape May, Music Academy of the West, as well as the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival.

In Los Angeles, Thies has worked and recorded with many of the top studio musicians, and has also worked with film composers James Newton Howard, James Horner, Danny Elfman, and Lalo Schifrin. Thiesâs recordings can be found on the Centaur, Albany, and Golden Tone labels. Recently, a chamber music recording Common Ground, was released, which features works by LA composer, Gernot Wolfgang. In February 2006 Robert released his debut solo recording Live in Recital. In June 2006, he recorded a collaborative CD Difference with the Croatian flutist, Damjan Krajacic. This CD is a compilation of original compositions that Robert had a strong hand in arranging, and the music integrates classical and jazz styles with improvisation and world music influences.

Mr. Thies is also sought after as a master class teacher, chamber music coach, lecturer, and adjudicator across the globe. In 2003, he joined the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, to work beside his former teacher, Harold Heiberg, an authority on German art song. There Thies has been coaching singers and pianists, preparing them for a Liederabendâthe culminating event of the six-week festival.

Born in New Jersey in 1971, Thies now resides in Los Angeles. His teachers have included Robert Turner and Daniel Pollack, both protégés of the legendary Russian pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne, and the great pianist Josef Lhevinne. Mr. Thies is a Steinway artist. For more information, visit Robert Edward Thies at: www.robertthies.org.