Idil Biret
Encyclopedia
İdil Biret is a Turkish
concert pianist
, renowned for her interpretations of the Romantic repertoire.
and Alfred Cortot
. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament enacted a special law which enabled her to study abroad, studying at the Paris Conservatory in France
under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger. She also credits Madeleine de Valmalète for having introduced her to composers such as Brahms
, whose complete works she would later record. She graduated with three prizes at the age of 15. She continued her education with Alfred Cortot
and Wilhelm Kempff
.
, the Philharmonia
, the London Philharmonic
, the Boston Symphony
, the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus
, the Dresden Staatskapelle
, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
, the Tokyo Philharmonic
, the Warsaw Philharmonic
, the Orchestre National de France
and the Sydney Symphony. She collaborated with the eminent conductors such as Hermann Scherchen
, Pierre Monteux
, Erich Leinsdorf
, Rudolf Kempe
, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
, Aaron Copland
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
, Charles Mackerras
, Jean Fournet
, Moshe Atzmon
, Antoni Wit
and Hiroyuki Iwaki
. Biret also gave concerts at the festivals of Berlin
, Montreal
, Istanbul
, Dubrovnik
, Montpellier
, Nohant
, Persepolis
, Royan
and Athens
.
She has been a jury member at several piano competitions: Van Cliburn (USA), Queen Elisabeth Belgium
), Montreal (Canada), Liszt (Weimar
, Germany) and Busoni (Italy).
Her numerous recordings (more than 80 today) for labels such as EMI, Decca, Atlantic, Finnadar, Naxos include the world-premiere recording of Liszt
's transcriptions of the nine Beethoven
symphonies
(EMI 6LP/1986), complete solo piano works and concertos of Chopin
(15CD/1992), of Brahms
(12CD/1997), Rachmaninoff
(10CD/2000) and the piano transcription of Stravinsky
’s ballet music The Firebird
(2003) and many else. Biret's wide repertoire encompasses much of the late Classical and Romantic piano literature. She is probably best known for her Chopin recordings, which won her the prestigious 'Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin' in Poland in 1995. In 2004 the sale of her Naxos CDs worldwide reached two million copies. Naxos commemorated this event by presenting Biret with a platinum disc. The same year the Boulez sonatas recording won the annual Golden Diapason award and was selected among the best recordings of the year by Le Monde newspaper in France.
Idil Biret has played in cycles the complete piano works of Beethoven and Brahms. In the 1980s she performed in two series of concerts Beethoven’s 32 sonatas and the piano transcription (Liszt) of all the 9 Symphonies, the latter broadcast live by Radio France. In the 1990s she played Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos, the Choral Fantasia and the Triple Concerto in five concerts. In 1997 she played all the solo piano works of Brahms in a series of five recitals in Germany during the composer’s centennial anniversary.
Her recordings of 20th century classical pieces include the three piano sonatas
of Pierre Boulez
(Naxos Records
1995) as well as the piano works and editions of Wilhelm Kempff (Marco Polo 1991). Idil Biret also recorded the etudes (volume 1 and 2) of György Ligeti
for Naxos, which was released in 2003. Earlier, in the 1970s she recorded in New York for Finnadar/Atlantic records works by Boucourechliev, Anton Webern
, Alban Berg
, Mimaroglu, Leo Brouwer
, Castiglioni, Alexander Scriabin
, Sergei Prokofiev
and Nikolai Myaskovsky
.
In September 2006 a biography "Idil Biret - Une Pianiste Turque en France" was written by a French author, Prof. Dominique Xardel and published by Buchet/Chastel in France. The book has been recently translated into Turkish and published by Can Yayinlari. The German translation of the book has been published by Staccato Verlag in September 2007. Polish, Russian, Armenian and Greek translations will be available shortly. English translation of the book will also be available in a special edition in July 2009.
Recently, she recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos (including the Choral Fantasy) for her own label, IBA (Idil Biret Archive); the results will be released in 2008-2009 as an integral set, along with her 1986 EMI recordings of the nine Beethoven symphonies as transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt. The complete set will include 19 CDs. The first release is on December 16, 2008; the second will be in February 2009, with succeeding volumes released every other month. Biret recorded most of the sonatas near Brussels
between 2001-2005 (three were recorded in 1994). She recorded the concertos with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Antoni Wit
in 2008. 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" is in preparation.
Biret is now preparing a new edition of all of Chopin's piano scores for the New York publisher International Music Company.
since 1971, an honorary title issued to artists by the government of Turkey
for their contributions into the Turkish culture.
In 1995, Biret's recordings of Chopin's entire oeuvre was awarded the "Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin" in Poland
. The same year, she won the "Diapason d'Or" prize in France for her recording of Boulez's sonatas, which was selected among the best recordings of the year by the newspaper 'Le Monde
'.
Biret also received the following awards: the Lily Boulanger Memorial Prize in Boston
(U.S.
), the Harriet Cohen
/Dinu Lipatti
Gold Medal in London
(UK
) the Polish Prize for Artistic Merits, the National Knight Merit Order of France, the Adelaide Ristori Prize, Italy
. In 2007 she was decorated with Distinguished Service Order - Cavalry Cross by the Polish President Lech Kaczynski
for her contributions to Polish culture with her recordings and performances of Chopin's music.
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
concert pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, renowned for her interpretations of the Romantic repertoire.
Education
Biret began her lessons at the age of five with Mithat Fenmen, who had studied under Nadia BoulangerNadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
and Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament enacted a special law which enabled her to study abroad, studying at the Paris Conservatory in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger. She also credits Madeleine de Valmalète for having introduced her to composers such as Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, whose complete works she would later record. She graduated with three prizes at the age of 15. She continued her education with Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
and Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also...
.
Music Life
From the age of 16, Biret played as a soloist with the most distinguished orchestras in the world including the London SymphonyLondon Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, the Philharmonia
Philharmonia
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
, the London Philharmonic
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, the Boston Symphony
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, the Leningrad Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...
, the Dresden Staatskapelle
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...
, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall...
, the Tokyo Philharmonic
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
The claims to be the oldest classical orchestra in Japan, having been founded in Nagoya in 1911. It moved to Tokyo in 1938 and has some 166 members as of 2005....
, the Warsaw Philharmonic
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra , one of Poland's premier musical institutions, was established in 1901 on the initiative of an assembly of Polish aristocrats and financiers, as well as musicians...
, the Orchestre National de France
Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre national de France is a symphony orchestra run by Radio France. It has also been known as the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française and Orchestre national de l'Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française .Since 1944, the orchestra has been based in the Théâtre...
and the Sydney Symphony. She collaborated with the eminent conductors such as Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen
Hermann Scherchen was a German conductor.-Life:Scherchen was originally a violist and played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens...
, Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
, Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...
, Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe
Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...
, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...
, Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos is a Spanish conductor and composer.Frühbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid...
, Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Jean Fournet
Jean Fournet
Jean Fournet was a French conductor.Fournet’s father was a flutist who gave him some instruction on the flute and music theory. Fournet was then trained at the Conservatoire de Paris in flute by Gaston Blanquart and Marcel Moyse, and conducting by Philippe Gaubert...
, Moshe Atzmon
Moshe Atzmon
Moshe Atzmon is a Hungarian-born Israeli conductor.He was born in Budapest, and at the age of thirteen he emigrated with his family to Tel Aviv, Israel. He started his musical career on the horn before going to London for further studies in conducting....
, Antoni Wit
Antoni Wit
Antoni Wit is a Polish conductor. He is the present musical director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.Wit graduated from Kraków's State Higher School of Music, studying conducting under Henryk Czyz and composition under Krzysztof Penderecki, going on to study under Nadia Boulanger in...
and Hiroyuki Iwaki
Hiroyuki Iwaki
was a Japanese conductor and percussionist.-Biography:Iwaki was born in Tokyo in 1932. Shortly after he entered an elementary school, he moved to Kyoto due to his father's transference. He came to play the xylophone at nine years old...
. Biret also gave concerts at the festivals of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
, Nohant
Nohant-Vic
Nohant-Vic is a commune in the Indre department in central France. It is located near La Châtre, on the D943, approximately south-east of Châteauroux and consists of two villages, Vic and Nohant, extended along the road.-Geography:...
, Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
, Royan
Royan
Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.A seaside resort, Royan is in the heart of an urban area estimated at 38,638 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth-largest conurbation in the department, after La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
.
She has been a jury member at several piano competitions: Van Cliburn (USA), Queen Elisabeth Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), Montreal (Canada), Liszt (Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, Germany) and Busoni (Italy).
Her numerous recordings (more than 80 today) for labels such as EMI, Decca, Atlantic, Finnadar, Naxos include the world-premiere recording of Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's transcriptions of the nine Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
(EMI 6LP/1986), complete solo piano works and concertos of Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
(15CD/1992), of Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
(12CD/1997), Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
(10CD/2000) and the piano transcription of Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
’s ballet music The Firebird
The Firebird
The Firebird is a 1910 ballet created by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
(2003) and many else. Biret's wide repertoire encompasses much of the late Classical and Romantic piano literature. She is probably best known for her Chopin recordings, which won her the prestigious 'Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin' in Poland in 1995. In 2004 the sale of her Naxos CDs worldwide reached two million copies. Naxos commemorated this event by presenting Biret with a platinum disc. The same year the Boulez sonatas recording won the annual Golden Diapason award and was selected among the best recordings of the year by Le Monde newspaper in France.
Idil Biret has played in cycles the complete piano works of Beethoven and Brahms. In the 1980s she performed in two series of concerts Beethoven’s 32 sonatas and the piano transcription (Liszt) of all the 9 Symphonies, the latter broadcast live by Radio France. In the 1990s she played Beethoven’s five Piano Concertos, the Choral Fantasia and the Triple Concerto in five concerts. In 1997 she played all the solo piano works of Brahms in a series of five recitals in Germany during the composer’s centennial anniversary.
Her recordings of 20th century classical pieces include the three piano sonatas
Piano sonatas (Boulez)
Pierre Boulez has composed three piano sonatas. The First Piano Sonata in 1946, a Second Piano Sonata in 1948, and a Third Piano Sonata was composed in 1955–57 with further elaborations up to at least 1963, though only two of its movements have been published.-First Piano Sonata:Boulez's First...
of Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
(Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
1995) as well as the piano works and editions of Wilhelm Kempff (Marco Polo 1991). Idil Biret also recorded the etudes (volume 1 and 2) of György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
for Naxos, which was released in 2003. Earlier, in the 1970s she recorded in New York for Finnadar/Atlantic records works by Boucourechliev, Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Mimaroglu, Leo Brouwer
Leo Brouwer
Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida is a Cuban composer, conductor and guitarist. He is the grandson of Cuban composer Ernestina Lecuona Casado.-Biography:...
, Castiglioni, Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
, Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
and Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony".-Early years and first important works:...
.
In September 2006 a biography "Idil Biret - Une Pianiste Turque en France" was written by a French author, Prof. Dominique Xardel and published by Buchet/Chastel in France. The book has been recently translated into Turkish and published by Can Yayinlari. The German translation of the book has been published by Staccato Verlag in September 2007. Polish, Russian, Armenian and Greek translations will be available shortly. English translation of the book will also be available in a special edition in July 2009.
Recently, she recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos (including the Choral Fantasy) for her own label, IBA (Idil Biret Archive); the results will be released in 2008-2009 as an integral set, along with her 1986 EMI recordings of the nine Beethoven symphonies as transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt. The complete set will include 19 CDs. The first release is on December 16, 2008; the second will be in February 2009, with succeeding volumes released every other month. Biret recorded most of the sonatas near Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
between 2001-2005 (three were recorded in 1994). She recorded the concertos with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra
Bilkent Symphony Orchestra
The Bilkent Symphony Orchestra is a major symphony orchestra of Turkey located in Bilkent, Ankara. It was founded in 1993 by Bilkent University. Since 1994 the orchestra is based in Bilkent Concert Hall...
conducted by Antoni Wit
Antoni Wit
Antoni Wit is a Polish conductor. He is the present musical director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.Wit graduated from Kraków's State Higher School of Music, studying conducting under Henryk Czyz and composition under Krzysztof Penderecki, going on to study under Nadia Boulanger in...
in 2008. 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" is in preparation.
Biret is now preparing a new edition of all of Chopin's piano scores for the New York publisher International Music Company.
Awards and recognitions
Biret has been a State ArtistState Artist
State Artist is a honorary title issued to artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions into the Turkish culture. It was established in 1971 by President of Turkey and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism....
since 1971, an honorary title issued to artists by the government of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
for their contributions into the Turkish culture.
In 1995, Biret's recordings of Chopin's entire oeuvre was awarded the "Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin" in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The same year, she won the "Diapason d'Or" prize in France for her recording of Boulez's sonatas, which was selected among the best recordings of the year by the newspaper 'Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
'.
Biret also received the following awards: the Lily Boulanger Memorial Prize in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
(U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), the Harriet Cohen
Harriet Cohen
Harriet Cohen CBE was a British pianist.-Biography:Harriet Cohen was born in London and studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music under Tobias Matthay, having won the Ada Lewis scholarship at the age of 12. She made her debut at a Chappell's Sunday concert at the Queen's Hall a year later...
/Dinu Lipatti
Dinu Lipatti
Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy.-Biography:...
Gold Medal in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) the Polish Prize for Artistic Merits, the National Knight Merit Order of France, the Adelaide Ristori Prize, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 2007 she was decorated with Distinguished Service Order - Cavalry Cross by the Polish President Lech Kaczynski
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
for her contributions to Polish culture with her recordings and performances of Chopin's music.
Critical acclaim
- Wilhelm KempffWilhelm KempffWilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also...
(Germany) "My favourite disciple Idil Biret... This genius pianist belongs to the class of elect musicians of our time." - Igor KipnisIgor KipnisIgor Kipnis was a well-known American harpsichordist and pianist.-Biography:Born in Berlin, the son of Russian bass Alexander Kipnis, Igor Kipnis moved to the United States with his family in 1938. He learned the piano with his maternal grandfather, Heniot Levy; attended the Westport School of...
(USA) "The complete Chopin set by Idil Biret can stand among the highest echelons of contemporary Chopin playing." - Donald Henahan (USA) "Only a brave soul and a confident technician would set out in public to play Liszt's transcription for piano of BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Symphonie fantastiqueSymphonie FantastiqueSymphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
, as Idil Biret did." - Tully Potter (England) "The distinguished pianist Idil Biret shows herself to be one of the finest exponents of Chopin's concertos in the world today. I cannot think of any competitor who can offer better performances than these."
- Henry-Louis de la GrangeHenry-Louis de La GrangeHenry-Louis de La Grange is a musicologist and biographer of Gustav Mahler.-Biography:Henry-Louis de La Grange was born in Paris of an American mother and a French father, , who was a senator, one-time government minister, and Vice-President of the International Aviation Federation...
(France) "Idil Biret, this great pianist, who in 1986 victoriously launched an assault on Liszt's transcription of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, does it again today by playing Chopin in its entirety in a breathtaking interpretation."