The name of Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires has a special place among the much-praised artists of the last decades. After having her debut at the age of five with a Mozart recital, she became a celebrity in Portugal but she made a name for herself in 1970 after winning the Beethoven Competition. As a prize, she was also offered a contract with Erato label; during their twenty years collaboration, she recorded with them several Bach concerts, six other concerts and the complete series of Mozart sonatas, Beethoven and Schubert sonatas. Maria João Pires is not interested in virtuosity, she doesn`t want to amaze the public and she always leaves the impression that she is at the piano for her own pleasure. The encore she gives most often, played together with the orchestra, is the slow part of the Concert in f minor by Bach. At the end of the `80s, she had signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon and she began again the complete series of Mozart sonatas, considered a discography reference. She teaches mastery classes and she insists on telling the young artists that art is not an exchange and that the professor is only able to guide, not to teach them something. The artist must understand the limits of the score and should not attempt to play it “in his own way”, but to prove humility because the score is sacred. Only after understanding these matters, a pianist can feel freedom when facing music.

A video recording of the pianist had become famous and it shows Maria João Pires during a public rehearsal, alarmed after the orchestra played the first measures: Riccardo Chailly was conducting some other Mozart concert than the one she had prepared for. In the three minutes while the orchestra is presented, Maria João Pires whispers to the conductor the mess she is in, but he convinces her to play using her memory. After a few moments of desperation, while Pires is also amused of the situations she is facing, she starts playing the first phrase and continues until the end with elegance and relaxation.

Recently, Deutsche Grammophon has paid homage to Maria João Pires by publishing two packages with twenty fours CDs that contain solo recordings and concerts produced by the pianist in the last 25 years.