Maria Joao Pires retiring

[Belle]

This excellent artist is calling it quits. Here's an interesting little fragment from a film and you'll see Pires caught unexpectedly at a lunchtime concert with the Concertgebouw Amsterdam/Riccardo Chailly conducting a concerto she wasn't expecting to play: what a 'pro'!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS64pb0XnbI

[Lance]

I was very sorry to learn this, but having been on the stage since age 5, and now at 73, she is certainly entitled to live her life outside of a pubic keyboard. Pires has been regularly recorded. A marvelous 17-CD set appears on Erato [63106], which contains all her recordings of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Schumann, including concerted works. In honor of her 70th birthday, DGG recently reissued all her solo recordings for the label: [479 2690, 20 CDs], and then all her chamber music recordings [479 5964, 12 CDs], and concerto recordings [479 4370, 5 CDs] in mega-CD sets. All her Mozart sonatas appear on Brilliant Classics [92733, 5 CDs]. Collaborators included violinist Augustin Dumay, soprano Christine Shafer, an EMI CD [54007] of Mozart lieder with soprano Barbara Hendricks, and several conductors in concerted works [Corbos, Previn, C-Abbado, among others]. An artist of great integrity bringing much spiritualism and honesty to her recorded works. Among her final recordings was of the Beethoven Piano Concertos 3 and 4 with Daniel Harding conducting the Swedish Radio Orchestra [Onyx 4125]. I wish her happiness in her retirement!

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[John F]

I got many of her Erato recordings on LP and liked them, though none struck me as indispensible. Haven't heard too many of her later recordings for DG, and didn't feel the need to buy them.

[barney]

I got many of her Erato recordings on LP and liked them, though none struck me as indispensible. Haven't heard too many of her later recordings for DG, and didn't feel the need to buy them.

I've got that set. I tend to agree - not indispensable, but very very good. Her Chopin nocturnes were widely acclaimed.

[Holden Fourth]

I bought her Chopin Waltzes on Erato in the early days of CDs and really liked them. Her nocturnes which were recorded later were a bit too fussy for me. Still, she is a very good pianist. I hope she enjoys here retirement.