Over the years Idil Biret has made more than seventy records, also placing greater emphasis on contemporary compositions in her concerts as well as in the studio.
Among others she has made her American recording debut with Pierre Boulez Second Piano Sonata which also presented the first U.S. recording of this important contemporary work – it was previously recorded in Europe by Yvonne Loriod for Vega and Claude Helffer for Deutsche Grammophon.
In 1995 she has recorded the Complete Boulez Sonatas for Naxos which received a Golden Diapason award in the same year and sold more than 25.000 copies in the months following its release.
During the 1970s several recordings of the works of 20th Century composers have been produced in New York for the Finnadar/Atlantic record label. These recordings will be released for the first time on CD probably in 2005 and containing works by Bartok, Berg, Boucourechliev, Brouwer, Boulez, Castiglioni, Françaix, Miaskovsky, Mimaroglu, Prokofiev, Ravel, Saygun, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Webern.
Her recording of Stravinsky’s piano transcription of the complete Firebird ballet music has just been released worldwide by Naxos (July 2003).
For further information on SOME of these recordings please refer to the following presentation (see frames below) which also includes work commentaries and international reviews.
Listing of ALL contemporary recordings in chronological order of the LP/CD issues:
| Introduction “For connoisseurs Idil Biret has already for many years a dimension of confidence: her Scriabin, Bartok and Prokofieff performances are exemplary. The strictness of her powerful grasp has led – particularly in the case of contemporary works – to a stylistic congruence between the score and interpretation, which makes one aware of an outstanding artistic power beyond the usual company conforming star-applause.” “Die Welt” (German newspaper) on September 29,1979 |
| VEGA (France) (Copyright: Universal Music) |
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| C 30A 346 | PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 7 BARTOK Six Romanian Dances – Suite op. 14 – Six Bulgarian Dances – Allegro Barbaro |
1961 LP |
| FINNADAR / ATLANTIC (USA) (Copyright: Idil Biret) |
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| SR 9004 | BOULEZ Sonata No. 2 WEBERN Variations op. 27 |
1973 LP |
| SR 9008 | BERG Sonata op. 1 | 1975 LP |
| SR 9013 | RAVEL Serenade Grotesque – Gaspard de la nuit STRAVINSKY The Five Fingers – A Waltz for Children – Petrouchka (Three Scenes) |
1976 LP |
| SR 125 | PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 2 SCRIABIN Sonata No. 10 / CHOPIN Two Mazurkas (Direct-to-Disc, Limited editon – 5500 copies) |
1977 LP |
| SR 9021 | MIMAROGLU “Sessions” / CASTIGLIONI “Cangianti” BOUCOURECHLIEV “Archipel IV” BROUWER Sonata “Pian e forte” |
1978 LP |
| SR 9029 | MIASKOVSKY Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 SCRIABIN 5 Préludes op. 74 |
1980 LP |
| PRICELESS (USA) (Copyright: Idil Biret) |
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| D 13442 | RAVEL Gaspard de la Nuit – Mirroirs – La Valse |
1988 CD |
| PRICELESS (USA) (Copyright: Idil Biret) |
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| 8.553353 | BOULEZ Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, 3 | 1995 CD |
| 8.555777 | LIGETI Etudes Book I & II | 2003 CD |
| 8.555999 | STRAVINSKY Complete ballet “Firebird” transcription |
2003 CD |