Artist Portrait: Andreas Staier (2002)

Andreas Staier is a period keyboardist of exceptional ability and an inexhaustible interest in repertoire and instruments, properties recognized by Atlantic Classics' Teldec imprint, who engaged Staier as an artist on an exclusive basis from 1995 to 2002. Afterward, Staier went to Harmonia Mundi; ironically, Staier's contract with Teldec ran out at about the time he earned the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis. With his departure, Warner Classics prepared a farewell gift in the form of Andreas Staier: Portrait, a kind of a ... Read More

Andreas Staier is a period keyboardist of exceptional ability and an inexhaustible interest in repertoire and instruments, properties recognized by Atlantic Classics' Teldec imprint, who engaged Staier as an artist on an exclusive basis from 1995 to 2002. Afterward, Staier went to Harmonia Mundi; ironically, Staier's contract with Teldec ran out at about the time he earned the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis. With his departure, Warner Classics prepared a farewell gift in the form of Andreas Staier: Portrait, a kind of a greatest-hits package for this artist, whose work would not seem to lend itself to the greatest-hits treatment. However, this is a highly enjoyable recording collection, and as well received as his Harmonia Mundi recordings have been, there is something about Staier's work for Teldec that seems definitive in a way. Artist Portrait consists of excerpts from at least 12 of Staier's albums and kicks off with Staier's own, dazzling transcription of the Boccherini Fandango for two harpsichords,... Read Less