The Journey

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Frederic Chopin (Composer), Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Spoken Word (Composer), Leon Fleisher (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Leon Fleisher
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, et al.
• Audio CD (September 19, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vanguard Classics
• ASIN: B000GYHQZ2
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,723 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #58 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Caprices

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. J.S. Bach: Capriccio in B-flat Major “On The Departure of a Brother,” BWV 992 - Arioso: Adagio - His friends try to persuade him not to undertake the journey. 2:07

2. Fughetta - They tell him of the various misfortunes that may befall him abroad. 1:08

3. Adagissimo - The general lament of his friends. 2:57

4. Andante - His friends come, since they see that it must be, and take leave of him. :23

5. Postilion’s Aria: Allegro poco - 1:20

6. Fugue in imitation of the posthorn - 2:14

7. Mozart: Sonata in E-flat Major, K. 282 - Adagio - 7:48

8. Menuetto I-II - 4:26

9. Allegro - 3:01

10. J.S. Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903 - Fantasy - 7:40

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Bob Edwards Interviews Leon Fleisher on XM Radio's The Bob Edwards Show

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Leon Fleischer is the extraordinary pianist who lost the use of his right hand to a neurological ailment in 1964 at the height of his career. Undaunted, he took up teaching, conducting, and performing the left-hand literature so brilliantly that it was hard to believe he was using only one hand. When he returned to two-handed playing after years of medical treatments and determined, arduous rehabilitation, the public greeted him not only as a great artist but a conquering hero. This disc is his second two-handed recording (the first, Two Hands, was released in 2004). The title refers to the journey of life which, Fleischer says, "matters more than the destinations." The program features works Fleischer had performed regularly before 1964 but never recorded. Now in his late 70s, Fleischer plays with patrician authority and an unfailing sense of structure and style. His technical mastery seems fully intact, his tone is beautiful and variable, his youthful vigor remarkable. His Bach is especially striking for its simple directness and the clarity of its texture and counterpoint. In the Capriccio "On the Departure of a Brother," a piece of real "program music," he brings out the lamentation and the humor; in the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue the build-ups are very dramatic, the runs carefully shaped. Chopin's "Berceuse" is dreamy and singing. Stravinsky's "Serenade" alternates percussive passages with sardonic "melodies," and includes a marathon perpetual motion. An early, relatively unfamiliar Mozart sonata is fussy and unspontaneous, but Beethoven's very familiar "Für Elise" is beautiful. Is Fleischer demonstrating how this lovely piece, all too frequently heard on student recitals and telephones, should really sound? --Edith Eisler

Product Description

Special 2 disc set! (In addition to the album cd and an interview disc, a free Vanguard Classics sampler will be included in an initial Limited Edition run.)

"The Journey" is the follow up to Leon Fleisher’s extraordinary Vanguard Classics 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 1960’s.

"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.'

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy successor to "Two Hands"!, October 18, 2006

By 

SwissDave (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Journey (Audio CD)

Glad to note the recording's just that touch less distant and reverberant than "Two Hands" (far from dry!) that makes this sound so much like Fleisher does in concert, if closer, perhaps more ideally intimate than in real life. If anything Fleisher's playing now sounds even more technically secure again (jaw-dropping, actually, given his life "journey"), musically of course, I've become so partial to anything he's recorded at any stage in his career, I dare not say much: I can see why one critic has already referred to his interpretation of Mozart's K. 282 Sonata as "fussy" - it is indeed intricately detailed. So what? The better the stereo system one uses to listen to this, the more it becomes apparent no grace note's running against the flow - nothing wrong with seeing old warehorses in a new light, or is there? As to the Bach pieces, comparing the 'Traumatic' (!) Fantasy and Fugue to recordings by Edwin Fischer and Wilhelm Kempff (live on BBC Legends), I can only say that hearing it in another great interpretation is again improving my appreciation of what has always been some of the most fascinating, if never the easiest Bach to me to fully grasp. It's fascinating that Fleisher manages once again (as on "Two Hands") to set a mood for the whole disc (right away with Bach's "Arioso: Adagio" from the "On the Departure of a Brother" Capriccio, the whole of which he plays with genuine simplicity) and yet give each of these diverse compositions its due. The Bagatelle wrongly titled "Für Elise" receives one of its finest interpretations here (right now comparing it to Bruce Hungerford's more "daring" reading), for example. As happens to me so often with Fleisher, I'm also increasingly impressed with Stravinsky's Serenade, a piece I may so far not have taken seriously enough. In short, the riches here are once again far too many to enumerate...

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overall sublime, some drawbacks, but still rates a 5, December 29, 2006

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Journey (Audio CD)

I love Leon Fleisher for his lyrical interpretations of Bach and his amazing ability to perform Chopin. On this particular album there is a lot of Bach and a taste of Chopin. The Chopin is very reminiscent of Arthur Rubenstein and this is something I like very much about this artist.

In general, Fleisher brings an amazing sensitivity to his piano playing whatever the particular piece. His tone is simply gorgeous and it really shines through on every piece. Playing Mozart is not necessarily his strength, but this album does not devote a lot of time to this composer. His interpretations of Beethoven and Stravinsky are very well done.

Fleisher is certainly not a minor player on the concert stage even after his extensive layoff. Both this album and "Two Hands" are excellent even if you have recordings all of these pieces already. I play the piano seriously myself and I am thoroughly satisfied with this purchase.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Affirming Journey through fascinating repertoire, April 1, 2008

By 

Scriabinmahler (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journey (Audio CD)

This 2CD set includes interesting interview with Fleisher talking about each piece recorded here, about his hand injury and his life in general. He says, dystonia gave him an opportunity to widen his horizon and enriched his life through his journey of new discoveries.

Each piece on this disc reflects that positive, life affirming view, and is filled with the pure joy of music making. I like particularly Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue and Capriccio in B-flat "On The Departure of a Brother," played with sublime simplicity, and Chopin's Berceuse played with incredibly subtle rubato and tonal intricacy. Acoustics has improved a lot compared to The Two Hands. Stravinsky's kaleidoscopic piano music is very interesting and superbly played.