„J. S. Bach’s Inventions – unfortunately still regarded as mere exercises – have fascinated me since my childhood thanks to their incredibly refined wealth of ideas, particularly when it comes to just two voices, where it is up to the player to discover how able you really have to be in order to master the task.
And standing in contrast to this is one of the most challenging cycles in piano music, in both a musical and a technical sense – Chopin’s Préludes, with their rapid changes between different, and at times highly polarised, feelings and sentiments; a synthesis imbibed with disarming naturalness that makes it almost impossible for a performance to bring out the music itself and not the interpreter.
The tension between the deceptive straightforwardness of Bach and the simplicity required by the complexity of Chopin, for me, makes this an exciting combination.” (DINA UGORSKAJA)
Born in Leningrad (now once more Saint Petersburg) into an artistic family of Jewish origin, Dina
Ugorskaja started learning the piano when she was young, as well as voice and composition. In
1990, when she was fifteen years old, she became the target of anti-Semitic threats; her family had
to leave the Soviet Union abruptly, and they fled together to Germany.
The “philosopher at the piano” has made herself a name with a performance style marked by profound
sensitivity and sobriety.
Her engagements have led her to make solo appearances at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Liederhalle
in Stuttgart, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Sala Verdi in Milan, and Radio
France Auditorium in Paris. She has been invited to perform at festivals including the Schubertiade in
Feldkirch and the Kassel Music Festival.
Dina Ugorskaja is also passionately committed to chamber
music: for instance, ever since her participation at Lars Vogt’s chamber music festival Spannungen
in Heimbach, she has formed a duo together with the renowned cellist Tanja Tetzlaff.
2019 marked the 10th anniversary of her fruitful collaboration with the CAvi-Music label. In coproduction
with Bavarian Radio (Munich), she has released recordings of Handel suites, late Schumann
works, the six last Beethoven sonatas, and both volumes of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier – all of
which have been praised by critics.
Regarding her recording of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata,
Eleonore Büning wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine: The immense Adagio sostenuto, bearing the
indication that it is to be played ‘passionately and with much feeling’, is rendered as a sublime,
radiant hymn, and one would no longer want to hear it any other way.
Regarding her recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Crescendo magazine wrote in October 2016:
The listener does not feel directly addressed, but rather as the silent witness of these intimate dialogues
between Bach, God, and the universe – thanks to the fact that Dina Ugorskaja always maintains a
noble distance that protects the inner fragility of Bach’s musical discourse. […] This is an impressive
manifesto for the freedom of the human intellect.”
Ugorskaja’s recordings for CAvi-music have been repeatedly nominated for the International Classical
Music Awards and for the German Music Critics’ Prize. Her last album with works by Schubert received
the ICMA award posthum.
Dina Ugorskaja passed away after a long period of illness in September 2019.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.
Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
Frédéric Chopin is one of the greatest composers of the Romantic piano tradition. He was a master in making the small form great. His ballades, mazurkas, polonaises, preludes, etudes and nocturnes all belong to the most popular standard works for piano ever written.
As a child prodigy, Chopin grew up in a middle class family, who lived among the literati of Warsaw. When in 1830 the November Uprising broke out in Poland, the twenty year old Chopin stayed in Vienna. He became an exile and never returned to his mother country. He eventually settled in Paris.
He avoided public concerts, but he did like performing in small settings, such as salons and at home for his friends. This way, Chopin built a reputation as an exceptional pianist, teacher and composer.
Chopin brought a unique synthesis between the Viennese bravado and the French/English lyric style. Even though his pieces often are technically very demanding, the focus was always on creating a lyric expression and poetic atmosphere. He invented the instrumental ballade, and brought salongenres to a higher level with his many innovations and refinements.
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