Spotlight on Burkard Schliessmann

International Piano has recently published some fantastic spotlights of Divine Art recording artist Burkard Schliessmann. In combination with coming interviews and rave reviews in Fanfare magazine, we felt we needed to put all of these in one easy-to-read location:

In the December 2023 issue of International Piano, Peter J Rabinowitz offers a survey of the recorded history of Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op 1, which includes this spotlight on Schliessmann’s recording on At the Heart of the Piano:

“[Burkard Schliessmann’s] performance… is a penetrating one.”

—Peter J Rabinowitz

International Piano wasn’t the only one excited by Schliessmann’s Berg Sonata recording:

“The Berg Sonata arises from the fire of Scriabin’s Op 74/5 like a phoenix soaring in a post-Tristan world. Schliessmann’s considered, polished reading, impeccable in its realisation of complex textures, is a model of its kind. This, coupled with a prevailing crepuscular tendresse gives Schliessmann’s reading warmth and academic integrity, bringing his thought-provoking album to a perfect close.”

—Colin Clarke, Fanfare

The same issue also featured a review of his new Live & Encores release:

“the piano is superb, as is the acoustic.… There is musical intent and a strong personality evident… Schliessmann is clearly a strong musical personality”

—Jonathan Dobson

You can also read Schliessmann’s own look at Live & Encores on the International Piano website:

“It really was a special and inspiring moment when I selected a Fazioli F278 on 6 March 2023: this precise instrument, the F2783482, immediately reached my heart and soul because it enabled me to communicate in works from all periods. It gave the impression of being born anew for each work, with an extraordinary palette of colours, flexibility, clarity, transparency and presence, as well as warmth. I wanted to capture this sound in a recording, and those present – Paolo and Luca Fazioli, Dieter and Sylvia Fischer, Job Wijnands – were thrilled by this idea. Elena Turrin organised three dates in April at the Fazioli Concert Hall when in the presence of invited guests I presented a wide-ranging programme that was recorded ‘live’ by the excellent sound engineer Matteo Costa. This repertoire – captured on my new album ‘Live & Encores’ – consists of works that I have studied since my youth and performed many times. This programme is therefore very personal to me.…

Continue reading on International Piano.

Fanfare magazine has also joined in on the praise and features for Live & Encores – with an upcoming interview scheduled for publication in the March/April issue (just in time for his upcoming Schumann release!):

“It is impossible to find words to give this recording a higher recommendation. It has already earned a spot on my want list for the current year and I’ll continue to listen to it regularly. ”

—James Harrington

“From the grand, rolled chords of the “Sinfonia” of Bach’s Second Partita, several things become clear: this is an interpretation of conviction and clarity, caught in ideal sound and performed on a phenomenally well-prepared piano. This is a dream of a performance: one revels both in the loveliness of the piano and in Schliessmann’s playing. Schliessmann’s questing mind and solid technique present us with interpretations that convince at every level. Recommended ”

—Colin Clarke

And the praise continues on Audiophile Audition:

“This most recent release by German classical Burkard Schliessmann…offer[s] moments of poetic transport, brief islands of relief between fateful urgings of the grandly sweeping landscape that feels conversant… Expressively nuanced, the music accelerates and retreats in coy, salon gestures, both bemused and subtle in their tragic lilt.”

—Gary Lemco