IBA Naxos Press Release November 2008

Contact:
Craig Zeichner
Naxos
czeichner@naxosusa.com
Telephone (615) 465-3832

Naxos Distributes Idil Biret Archive Recordings

"To have the freedom to decide what kind of repertory to record is a most exhilarating feeling a musician can experience. The establishment of the Idil Biret Archive label with worldwide distribution by Naxos is simply the realization of a wish, a dream coming true for me."
-Idil Biret

The Idil Biret Archive contains all the pianist's professional recordings and many of her radio and television performances

In December 2008-the Idil Biret Archive (IBA) will join the Naxos family of labels-IBA recordings will be distributed worldwide on CD as well as digitally on major websites, including Naxos Music Library, ClassicsOnline, iTunes, eMusic and  Amazon.

Biret is a prolific artist who has mastered music from the classical to the modern era. Since she began her recording career at the age of seven, she has made more than 80 recordings for nine labels, as well as countless radio and television  recordings. These include the complete solo piano works and concertos of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov as well as works by Boulez, Ligeti and Stravinsky for Naxos on 40 CDs. There are also many recordings that have never been available commercially and will debut on IBA.

The First four recordings will be released  December 2008
The label makes its debut with four volumes from the 19-volume Beethoven Edition. The Beethoven Edition includes the 32 Piano Sonatas, Five Piano Concertos, the Choral Fantasia and Liszt's transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies. The Sonatas and Piano Concertos (with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit) are new recordings. The Liszt transcriptions were originally issued by  EMI/Electrola in 1986.

Starting in February 2009, the remaining recordings in the Beethoven Edition will be released every other month. Biret is the only pianist to have performed all of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, Concertos and Liszt transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies in public concerts. She is now the first pianist to have recorded them all. A DVD, The Making of the Beethoven Recordings  will also be available shortly.

Major Concertos Newly Recorded
For future release, Biret has recorded new versions of all the concertos of Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Grieg and Schumann. In addition to the newly recorded CDs, the legendary and long unavailable recordings Biret made for Atlantic/Finnadar in New York in the 1970s will be released.

Awards and Publications
In 2006, a book about Biret's life and musical philosophy, Idil Biret, A Turkish Pianist in France, was published by the French publisher Buchet-Chastel. Turkish and German language versions of the book are now available. English, Polish, Russian, Armenian and Greek translations will be available shortly. In 2007, Biret was awarded the Distinguished Service Order - Cavalry Cross by the Polish president for her service to Polish culture through her Chopin recordings and performances. Biret is now preparing a new edition of all of Chopin's piano scores for the New York publisher International Music Company.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Idil Biret please contact Craig Zeichner at czeichner@naxosusa.com or Sefik Yuksel at sefikyuksel@idilbiret.eu