VIVE LES AMATEURS DU PIANO. Theo Lieven...

VIVE LES AMATEURS DU PIANO. Theo Lieven and Hannes Keller, piano, Jana Werner, soprano, Gunter Thomasberger and Attila Szekely, cello, Eric Kushner, horn. Vive les amateurs records 1. This recording is of interest mainly for the extramusical accomplishments of the German-born pianists, who have found fame and fortune through their mathematical and entrepreneurial talents. Nevertheless, despite the flawed and often lackluster performances here--that even the collaboration of three members of the Vienna Symphony, for Schumann’s Andante and Variations cannot salvage--there is an apparent joy in the process with which many amateurs may identify. Heller does offer a slightly unsteady but delicate and reasonably convincing Scarlatti sonata. “Es ist so leicht,” from the musical “Nostalgie,” by Alexis Weissenberg, who encouraged the making of this recording, stands out for its simplicity, conveyed by Werner’s clear, reedy and innocent-sounding soprano.