LEON FLEISHER: THE JOURNEY (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD - BACH, MOZART, CHOPIN, STRAVINSKY, BEETHOVEN)

"The Journey" was the follow up to Leon Fleisher's extraordinary release "Two Hands." Where "Two Hands" chronicled Fleisher's triumphant return to performing two-handed repertoire after 35 years, "The Journey" tells the rest of the story.

The works performed on "The Journey" are the pieces of music that Fleisher was preparing to perform in solo recitals at the time that dystonia began to affect his performing career in the early 1960s.

"The Journey" matches solo piano works rarely recorded, like Stravinsky's 'Serenade in A,' with the beautiful, melancholy touch that Leon Fleisher brings to popular works such as Chopin's 'Berceuse' and Beethoven's 'Für Elise.' The technical ability of a great pianist meets the poetic touch of a master in Bach's 'Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue' and Mozart's 'Sonata in E flat,' K. 272.

Mr. Fleisher is interviewed on Disc Two by Bob Edwards of XM Radio's 'The Bob Edwards Show.'

…one performance stands out… Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. …Fleisher… offers a long, searching experience of the loftiness behind Bach's structural scheme. The sense of a personal communion that Fleisher seems always to aim for is very marked here; and almost so in Chopin's Berceuse where introspection is not expressed through maudlin sentimentality. --GRAMOPHONE

…a nicely balanced and entertaining recital disc… the performances… are never less than interesting, and at best exquisite. Best of all is Fleisher's Bach. The Chromatic Fantasy is a compelling journey in Fleisher's hands, after which the picking out of individual voices in the Fugue is achieved with great subtlety and clarity. --BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

Bach, J S: Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo, BWV992 ("Capriccio on the Departure of a Brother")

1. Arioso: Adagio

2. Fughetta

3. Adagissimo

4. Andante

5. Postilion's Aria: Allegro poco

6. Fugue in imitation of the posthorn

Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major K282

7. Adagio

8. Menuetto I-II

9. Allegro


Bach, J S: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV903

10. Fantasy

11. Fugue


12. Chopin: Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57


Stravinsky: Serenade in A for piano

13. Hymne

14. Romanza

15. Rondoletto

16. Cadenza finale


17. Beethoven: Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)