This summer, the Casa Radio Publishing House has offered us five extraordinary albums, one of which is dedicated to the pianist Dan Grigore. It is entitled, of course. Maestro!. If we exclude the repertoire belonging to the Viennese classicism, the perspective of a piano compendium opens up to us; this album sums up the career of the great Romanian musician; the first work is the only studio recording of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in E minor, followed by Scriabin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and many other pages that are as many landmarks of his career, which lasted for more than five decades and developed for many years between the closed borders of Romania. From which perspective might Dan Grigore have been watched today by those who are still fascinated by the mirage of a very refined Occident and desirous of its acknowledgement, if his artistic endeavour had made him go across Europe long before 1989?

'Thank Goodness for the events of 1989 which liberated fettered talents such as this into the free world ! His entry announced an extraordinary power weighted through his fingertips which, combined with a strong lyric impulse and ripplingly refined decoration, reminded us Grigore comes from the same stable as the legendary Lipatti', wrote a British journalist in The Birmingham Post.

Back to our days, we emphasize the desirability of such a collection in a moment in which we live with the feeling that the great and valuable Romanian artists have not been sufficiently honoured yet, while the need for role models, for strong personalities and authentic voices is greater than ever.

…Debussy, Liszt, Chopin, Scarlatti, MacDowell are all included in this 'Maestro!' album - an entirely eclectic material, from the different piano sonorities to the stylistic palette approached; this is completely natural if one takes into consideration the fact that these are episodes gathered from the maestro's live performances covering at least forty-seven years of his career; a portrait made of sounds that's significant, not exhaustive. As for the words… no matter how much one struggles, one cannot equal the one who instructed him at some point. She is not only a great pianist but also a luscious literary presence. How does Dan Grigore appear through the kind eyes of his centenarian maestro, Cella Delavrancea?

'…He would be successful on stage at any musical centre. When this very tall and brunette man appears treading quickly among the instrumentalists, he resembles a vessel which enters aport. He takes a seat by the piano very calmly, with his head leaned gently towards the keyboard. His entire attitude spreads out a self-assurance that takes over the concert hall. Then, he 'wakes' the piano and his arduous music is played devotedly. We all know his virtuosity, the natural nobility of his performances, which fortunately lack the facile effects that hinder the style. What should be emphasized is… the way in which he turns the music flow into voice, thus enlarging the field of investigation of an opera to its majestic dimensions.'

…Scriabin, Bach, Gluck-Sgambatior Schubert-Liszt again. But what does the maestro say about his latest published collection? He was caught on microphone in the recreation room of the Romanian Athenaeum during the Enescu Festival: 'It is a record filled with memories, a record of subjective experiences, they are recordings which cover the 1961 ambitus, starting with my first recital at the Athenaeum, until 2008. The vast majority of them are live recordings, except for the first piece, a Toccata and Fugue by Bach which were recorded at the Radio studio. I generally like to offer this kind of gift to the audience, even if it comes under the shape of a can (as I was saying to Celibidache when I was offering him records: 'Please accept this can…signed by me' and he accepted them even though he did not love records) although the feature that resembles a can exists in each record - the atmosphere in the concert hall, the harmonies that abide in the air column of a concert hall with excellent acoustics is partly lost, but a part of the live atmosphere of the concert is preserved, a part that is mysterious and hard to explain…but not everything must be explained'.

Maestro! with pianist Dan Grigore, which is included in the Vote the best classical album of 2015 campaign on Radio Romania Music.