Festival Soloists: David Breitman
Keyboards – Oberlin, OH
David Breitman is equally at home with the fortepiano and the modern piano, and his growing discography reflects that versatility. His most recent recording project was of a major new song cycle by the Cuban-American composer Jorge Martin with sSanford Sylvan, following the New York premiere of the 65-minute work at Carnegie Recital Hall. This was the fourth recital record with Sylvan, followin
g “Beloved that Pilgrimage” (three 20th century song cycles) Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin (using a replica of a Graf fortepiano), and an all-Fauré disc. “Pilgrimage” and the Fauré were nominated for Grammy awards. Another fruitful partnership has been with Jean-François Rivest; their 4-disk Mozart violin sonata series was the culmination of a multi-year project involving intensive study and multiple performances of the 16 works.. In a collaboration of a different sort, Breitman is one of seven fortepianists who share a complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle. The team has presented the series in New York City, Florence, and Palermo and the 10-CD set on CLAVES has been extraordinarily well received.
Highlights of recent seasons have been piano-trio tours with Elizabeth Wallfisch and Jaap ter Linden, the Mozart two-piano concerto with Penelope Crawford and the Ann Arbor Symphony, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Washington Bach Consort at the Kennedy Center, and the Mozart and Beethoven quintets for piano and winds with members of Tafelmusik in Toronto. Especially memorable was the opportunity to play a program of music for two fortepianos with Malcolm Bilson at the Poldi Pezzoli museum in Milan using two of the very few extant original 5-octave Walter fortepianos.
