300

Wunder gives a very soft and warm feeling to the music that he performs. This album contain a very diverse collection of piano music which fit together very nicely. Wunder made excellent selections and gave super performances of them.And DG did its usual great job of recording.

Delightful combination of music - skillfully rendered.

The quoted blurb seems faintly desperate in trying to get buyers to consider this "fun music" and an "exuberant program." They should simply have pointed out that this strange program includes a bit from Star Wars. DG bypassed the first-place winner of the last Warsaw Chopin competition to sign up Ingolf Wunder, who is 27, Austrian, and tied for second (no relation to Stevie Wonder). As the title "300" suggests, Wunder's playing spans three centuries, from Scarlatti to John williams - I wasn't kidding about Star Wars - and at times the pieces, like Scarlatti's K. 33 sonata, are a bit closer to sobriety than fun.Even though the whole thing is like a traveling salesman opening his sample case on the front stoop, I'm not going to be sour or even critical. It's an honorable tradition for new virtuosos before the public to dazzle us, and Wunder has included a few chestnuts like flight of the bumblebee as well as a gauntlet or two thrown down, as in Volodos's spectacular transcription of Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, which appears on one of Volodos's albums as an encore. It's also not out of place to vary the mood with soft moonlight, a la Clair de lune and the Chopin Berceuse. The program proceeds in chronological order, which gives us the flavor of keyboard stylisitcs as they changed - radically - from Scarlatti onward.In the early music, from Scarlatti and Mozart up to Chopin, Wunder's musical personality is serious, even a bit somber. He's at pains not to sound frivolous. The Liszt selection, Csardas macabre S. 224, is a rarely heard alternative, in mood at least, to the familiar Mephisto Waltz. Wunder is serious about this, too, but for the first time I think he catches fire - somewhat. Comparison with flashier players like Lang Lang, Lise de la Salle, and Yuja Wang reveals more flair on their part, less the professor at the keyboard. But Wunder proves that he can turn on a dime form Liszt's style to Debussy's in Clair de lune, and he's at ease in Flight of the Bumblebee, showing sufficient chops without a doubt.I won't detail the rest of the program except to say that "fun music" isn't often played this soberly. I think Wunder may turn out to be solid, maybe stolid, along the lines of the conductor Christian Thielemann - it seems to be an orientation that Germans prefer right now.Here's the complete program:Chopin: Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57Debussy: Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque)Horowitz: Danse excentriqueKoczalski: Valse Fantaisie, Op. 49Liszt: Csárdás macabre, S. 224Morricone, E: Playing LoveMoszkowski: Étincelles, Op. 36 No. 6Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 13 in B flat major, K333Rondo alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11, K331arranged by Arcadi VolodosRachmaninov: Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minorRimsky Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble BeeScarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K33 in D MajorScriabin: Étude Op. 8 No. 12 in D sharp minorWilliams, John: Star Wars: Main Theme

Superb recording with many of our favourites. Played often - excellent choice.

This is another one of my purchases following hearing part of the CD on the radio, in this case the "Clair de lune". Listening to the whole CD was an enjoyable experience, with the exception perhaps of the Star Wars piece. Wunder's playing seems to me clean and precise and the quality of the recording is very good too. I don't suppose this will ever be anybody's favourite CD, but it is worth listening to occasionally.

Tout y est beau

Ingolf es bueno. Pero todavía falta mucha historia del piano clásico por escribirse. Muy buena interpretación con buena toma de sonido.

Es ist kein Wunder mehr, und doch ! Er ist auf dem Weg zu "der Wunder" - und irgendwer möge ihm seineKraft und Leidenschaft verlängern