Pianist Herbert Schuch has gained a reputation as being among the most interesting musicians of his generation with his strikingly conceived concert programmes and CD recordings. His new album sets Beethoven’s Bagatelles in relation to György Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata.

Long before he thought of coupling the works by Beethoven and Ligeti on CD, Herbert Schuch had tried out the combination in the concert hall. “I quickly get a feel whether a programme works well, or whether it’s just something I’ve conceived in my head. Of course, I was aware that these cycles were never intended to be picked apart. I find it important to feel assured that I’m not undermining their essence, and that the new order also makes sense. Such a coupling would certainly not work in the case of a sonata.”

Schuch has worked with a number of renowned orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic and the radio orchestras of hr, MDR, WDR, NDR Hannover und Danish Radio, as well as with the Camerata Salzburg and the Festival Strings Lucerne, with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Jun Märkl, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jonathan Nott, Markus Poschner, Michael Sanderling, and Mario Venzago.