KIRILL GERSTEIN: FERENC RADOS MOZART PIANO SONATAS IN C AND F Release Date – Friday 21 May 2021 (MYR029)

“Ferenc Rados is the single most influential person in my musical life and the one with whom I’ve have studied the longest.” Kirill Gerstein

On Friday 21 May, Kirill Gerstein and his long-time mentor, Ferenc Rados, will release an album of duets by Mozart: Piano Sonata in C major, KV 521 and Piano Sonata in F major, KV 497. Recorded for myrios classics, this new disc presents a rare opportunity to hear the artistry of this great Hungarian pianist who largely stopped playing in public 40 years ago. Whether in concert, teaching or through his online lecture series Kirill Gerstein invites, collaboration is a fundamental tenet of Kirill Gerstein’s life. His 17-year relationship with Ferenc Rados got off to a rocky start when they first met at Steven Isserlis’s IMS Prussia Cove chamber music festival and Gerstein found his Beethoven being ripped apart by Rados. The two pianists however became close friends and colleagues, and Gerstein continues to travel to Budapest to play for Rados whenever his schedule allows.

Last year, Kirill Gerstein released two albums with another close friend and colleague of over a decade: the composer Thomas Adès. The two recordings: the world première of Adès’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra written especially for Gerstein released by Deutsche Grammophon; and a compendium of Thomas Adès’s works for piano on myrios classics, garnered an impressive series of accolades including a 2021 International Classical Music Award, a 2020 Gramophone Award, three GRAMMY Award nominations and best album of the year votes from BBC Music Magazine, NPR, The New Yorker, The New York Times and Boston Globe.

Kirill Gerstein’s first recording for myrios classics was released in 2010 and in recent years his thoughtfully curated projects for the independent label have included Strauss’s Enoch Arden with the Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire; Downfall), recorded shortly before the actor’s death in February 2019; Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo; and The Gershwin Moment with the St Louis Symphony, David Robertson, Gerstein’s jazz mentor Gary Burton and Storm Large. Gerstein has additionally recorded Scriabin with the Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko for LAWO Classics; and Tchaikovsky with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic as part of The Tchaikovsky Project released by Decca Classics.