Enescu & Mussorgsky Alexander Krichel

• George Enescu (1881 - 1955): Suite No.2, Op. 10:
• 1Enescu: Suite No.2, Op. 10: I. Toccata04:03
• 2Enescu: Suite No.2, Op. 10: II. Sarabande07:32
• 3Enescu: Suite No.2, Op. 10: III. Pavane06:04
• 4Enescu: Suite No.2, Op. 10: IV. Bourrée06:09
• Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881): Pictures at an Exhibition:
• 5Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade I01:32
• 6Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Gnome02:24
• 7Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade II01:00
• 8Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Old Castle04:43
• 9Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade III00:28
• 10Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Tuileries Gardens - Children's Quarrel After A Game00:58
• 11Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Cattle03:18
• 12Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade IV00:56
• 13Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Ballet of Unhatched Chicks01:07
• 14Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle02:09
• 15Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade V01:35
• 16Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Limoges - The Marketplace01:23
• 17Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Catacombs01:58
• 18Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Cum Mortuis In Lingua Mortua02:09
• 19Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Hut on Chicken's Legs (Baba-Yaga)03:19
• 20Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: The Great Gate of Kiev05:25
• Alexander Borodin (1833 - 1887):
• 21Borodin: Petite Suite: Nocturne02:36
• Total Runtime01:00:48

Info for Enescu & Mussorgsky

One of Germany’s most prominent pianists, Alexander Krichel from Hamburg, has brought together a couple of heavyweights for his first album with Berlin Classics. He combines the “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky, a central work of the piano literature, with a rarely heard gem by the Romanian composer George Enescu. Enescu’s Second Piano Suite enhances the formal language of the Baroque with Romantic and Impressionist tim-bres, and entrances the listener with a rich palette of tone colours. To round off the pro-gramme, Alexander Krichel plays another work by a composer from Russia’s “mighty hand-ful”, the Nocturne from the Petite Suite by Alexander Borodin.

There’s no denying it: born in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, Krichel feels himself strongly drawn to the Russian repertoire. He studied with two of the greatest Russian pianists of modern times: in Hanover, as Vladimir Krainev’s last student; and at the Royal College of Music in London, with Dmitri Alexeev. “I’ve long had Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ in my repertoire, but now, this piano suite is exactly right with its strong sense of dedication,” says Krichel. “It would be hard to find another piano cycle that has such va-riety and places such comprehensive demands. Mussorgsky captures a whole cosmos in his ‘Pictures’. That links him with George Enescu, who in writing his Second Suite actually composed a tribute as well”

ECHO Klassik prizewinner Alexander Krichel also made his presence felt on the music scene with unusual activities during the long Corona lockdown. In May 2020, he initiated the first drive-in concert, which was broadcast by WDR. Soon after that, his audience was following him on a video diary from a Hong Kong hotel suite, in which he had to observe a 14-day period of quarantine before a concert.

All the greater, then, the relief felt by Alexander Krichel that like other artists, he can again communicate live with his audience, most recently in a concert for Bavarian Radio (BR), where he was able to perform Mussorgsky’s “Pictures”. The listeners were delighted, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung credited Krichel with “an unfailing sense of piano sound. Not all great pianists have that. But the truly great ones, they do.”

Alexander Krichel, piano

Alexander Krichel
Born in Hamburg in 1989, Alexander Krichel started to play the piano at the age of six. He became a pre student at Hamburg University of Music and Drama at the age of 15. From 2007 he continued his studies with the legendary Vladimir Krainev at Hanover University of Music and Drama. He is currently studying under the tutelage of Dmitri Alexeev at Royal College of Music in London. Alexander Krichel is a winner of several international and national piano competitions and was awarded the renowned the ECHO Klassik as Newcomer Of The Year in 2013.

In 2011 Alexander Krichel signed an exclusive recording contract with SONY Classical. His first album for Sony, 'Frühlingsnacht', was released in February 2013 to great acclaim from critics and the public alike, and entered the German classical charts straightaway.

His second album for SONY Classical that contains works for piano and orchestra by Mozart, Chopin and Hummel was released in September 2014. It was produced with the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under Wojciech Rajski.

The third SONY Classical production will be a Rachmaninov album that is going to be published in 2015.

Alexander has performed in nearly all German major concert venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Munich Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater, Cologne Philharmonie and Düsseldorf Tonhalle. Future recital engagements feature débuts in Vienna Konzerthaus (Austria) and Zurich Tonhalle (Switzerland).

The festivals he has appeared at include the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Schwetzinger Festspiele, the Kissinger Sommer and the Ocean Sun Music Festival.

Outside Germany, Alexander Krichel has played in England, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Luxemburg, Switzerland and farther afield in the USA, Japan and South America.

Last season featured his acclaimed débuts with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott, Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra under Aleksandar Markovich, Chamber Orchestra of Staatskapelle Berlin, Lucerne Festival Strings, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Filármonica Nacional de Venezuela.

For the 2012/13 season, Alexander Krichel was admitted to Bayer Kultur's stART programme. The culture department of pharmaceuticals and chemicals company Bayer will be sponsoring him for a period of three years, and Krichel will give numerous concert performances under their aegis. In addition, he receives scholarships from the Oscar & Vera Ritter Foundation and the PE Foundation and is a RCM Scholar supported by a Kenneth and Violet Scott and a Hilda Houssart Award.

This album contains no booklet.