Five piano trio receive their world recording premiers with this release. In a sense, it’s not that big a deal. Carl Czerny wrote over 1,000 works, over 800 of them published. There are still many, many Czerny works awaiting their first recording. The trios presented here are certainly worthy of attention. The 1830 Deux Trios […]
Classical
-
-
#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalSummer Week 3
It was a busy summer for the Classics a Day team. In June, we marked African-American Music Appreciation Month. In July we celebrated national holidays in the U.S. and Canada. So that just left August to have a summer theme. For my part, I chose to choose anything except Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” In the process, […]
-
Anton Bruckner Complete Piano Music Complete Surprise
May I use the word “revelatory?” It most accurately describes my reaction to this release of Anton Brucker’s piano music. Bruckner’s reputation (rightly) rests on his symphonies. But those were far in the future of the young student who wrote these piano pieces. All of the works recorded were composed as student pieces and composition […]
-
Vyacheslav Artyomov Symphony of Elegies Inspires Anew
Divine Art continues their reissue of Vyacheslav Artyomov recordings with “A Symphony of Elegies.” Artyomov’s 1977 “A Symphony of Elegies” was written during a trip to the mountains of Dilijan, Armenia. To me, the work forms a fascinating contrast to the mountain-inspired symphonies of American/Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness. Both composers eschew the standard notion of […]
-
Friedrich Gernsheim Piano Series Begins at Beginning
Friedrich Gernsheim was a talented pianist and composer with two strikes against him. He was a contemporary of Johannes Brahms, who overshadowed him during his lifetime. And he was a German Jew, so his legacy was (temporarily) erased by the Nazis. The 21st Century seems to be kinder to Gernsheim, given the number of recent […]
-
Michel-Richard de Lalande Grands Motets Evoke Grandeur
Michel-Richard de Lalande was a contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully and François Couperin. Like them, he served at the court of Louis XIV. Lalande’s strength was composing grand motets; elegant, extravagant, grand music suited for the Royal Chapel at Versailles. This release presents three examples. All three require a large orchestra (for the Baroque period, that […]
-
#ClassicsaDay #SummerClassics Weeks 1 and 2
It was a busy summer for the Classics a Day team. In June, we marked African-American Music Appreciation Month. In July we celebrated national holidays in the U.S. and Canada. So that just left August to have a summer theme. For my part, I chose to choose anything except Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” In the process, […]
-
François-Joseph Gossec Symphonies Immensely Entertaining
François-Joseph Gossec was a major musical figure in the late 1700s. His influence didn’t travel far outside of France. Within its boundaries, though, Gossec created a new aesthetic that inspired composers for decades. Gossec fully embraced the aesthetic of classicism and injected it with some forward-looking innovations. This collection of his Opus 4 symphonies has […]
-
Karl Weigl 1934 Cello Concerto present to the world
Volume two of CPO’s “Cello Concertos by Exiled Jewish Composers” features music by Karl Weigl. Given Weigl’s prominence in Vienna, it’s surprising he’s so little-known today. Weigl was Mahler’s rehearsal pianist. He co-founded a concert series with Arnold Schoenberg and Bruno Walter. He studied with Robert Fuchs and taught Wolfgang Erich Korngold. And yet he […]