June 14: ECM New Series Releases Pianist Anna Gourari's Recording of Hindemith and Schnittke

ECM New Series Releases

Paul Hindemith | Alfred Schnittke

Anna Gourari, Piano
Orchestra Della Svizerra Italiana
Markus Poschner, Conductor

ECM New Series 2752
CD: 0289 4875453 3
Release Date: June 14, 2024

Press downloads available upon request.

After three acclaimed solo piano programmes for the label, here Anna Gourari widens the instrumental spectrum with the Lugano-based Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana under Markus Poschner’s direction in striking performances of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra and Paul Hindemith’s The Four Temperaments.

Gourari’s pianistic command is one of “virtuoso polish and with flawless action,” to quote the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, and her holistic, wide-reaching grasp of the instrument is on full display in Schnittke’s shape-bending polystylistic concerto. The orchestra furthermore shines in a powerful interpretation of Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler. 

Contrasts emerge not only through the juxtaposition of the three works but from within the pieces, which have fiery temperaments and technically demanding scores in common.

Recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in December 2021, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.