Schiff plays Scarlatti & Kürtág

Two previously unreleased live recordings from Lucerne show Sir András Schiff with two composers who are otherwise rarely found in his discography and programs: Domenico Scarlatti and György Kurtág. Centuries apart, they are musically united as masters of the miniature. Although András Schiff had explored Scarlatti during his studies, this Baroque master had gradually disappeared from his repertoire since then. In Lucerne, Schiff performed 13 selected sonatas with a carefully considered dramatic structure, shaping the short works – in keeping with the live situation – with a daring approach, great artistry of characterization, and an extraordinary sense of sound. From György Kurtág's Játékok ("Games"), a diary-like collection of piano miniatures, Schiff also presented a carefully considered selection, drawing on suggestions from Kurtág himself when compiling it. Schiff studied with Kurtág in Budapest for several years, reveres him as a composer "who has an important opinion about every note and knows exactly how it sounds," but has not yet released a recording of his music. With this release, he congratulates Kurtág on his 100th birthday on February 19, 2026.

In cooperation with audite, Lucerne Festival presents outstanding concert recordings by the Festival's most influential artists in the "Historic Performances" series. The aim of the edition is to bring to light hitherto largely unreleased treasures from the Festival's first six decades, which began in 1938 with a "Concert de Gala" conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The sound recordings come from the archives of SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, which has regularly broadcast the Lucerne concerts since the beginning. They are carefully restored and supplemented with materials and photographs from the Lucerne Festival archives: a sonorous history of the Festival.