Fortepianist Viviana Sofronitsky Releases Schubert's WANDERER FANTASY Recording Today, 8/14

Related: Viviana Sofronitsky, Schubert

Russian-Canadian fortepianist Viviana Sofronitsky offers uniquely captivating performances of Schubert's most important keyboard works on this new recording from CAvi Music, available from Allegro Classical. Hailing from a musical family - her father was the great Russian virtuoso Vladimir Sofronitzky - Ms. Sofronitsky is considered one of the world's leading pianists in Classical and Romantic music.

This new Schubert recording is played on a contemporary fortepiano by Paul McNulty, after that of Conrad Graf (1819). Sofronitzky's personal collection of top-quality new pianos includes Mozart and Beethoven's favorites Walter and Stein, Schubert's Graf, Chopin's Pleyel and Liszt's Boisselot. Her recent performance at London's Wigmore Hall using all five of her pianos on stage was acclaimed as a "revelation" (The Independent, UK).

The "Wanderer" Fantasy in C (Op. 15, D760), composed in 1822, is considered Schubert's most technically demanding composition for the piano. The composer himself is said to have declared "the devil may play it", in reference to his own inability to do so properly. The recording also includes two Schubert Impromptus: Op. 90, D899 and Op.posth. 142, D935.

Following studies at the Moscow Conservatory, at Oberlin in the US, and receiving historical fortepiano and harpsichord performance degrees from the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, Sofronitsky has been the recipient of distinguished prizes at the Bach Tage Berlin competition and the Musica Antiqua competition in Brugge. Viviana Sofronitsky is based in Europe from where she is travelling worldwide with her fortepianos, including performances at leading festivals and concert halls in London, Leipzig, Oslo, Japan, and beyond.

Sofronitsky received wide acclaim for her recent 11-CD collection of Mozart's complete works for keyboard instrument and orchestra: "Knocks the competition out of the box," says Audiophile Audition, calling it "extraordinarily fresh and alive," while MusicWeb International recognized her achievementas"very refreshing and remarkably consistent throughout."