Leonard Bernstein was an accomplished pianist and a prolific composer. And yet his oeuvre for solo piano is surprisingly small — small enough to fit onto two CDs. The first disc of this release collects all of Bernstein’s “Anniversaries” – miniature gems written for friends and colleagues. The second features his more extended piano works. […]
Classical piano
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Dussek Complete Piano Sonatas Vol. 3 – Better Than They Sound
Brilliant’s traversal of Dussek piano sonatas continues with two major compositions. The Op. 44 Sonata “Farewell” was completed in 1799 and marks the end of an era. The 1812 Op. 77 sonata “L’Invocation” looks forward to the next era. The Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 44 is large, four-movement work. It runs about 30 minutes. […]
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Clementi Piano Sonatas, Op. 25, 33 & 49 – more than mechanical
Mozart wrote, “Clementi is a good clavicembalist and with this, there is no more to say. He plays well with his right hand, his strong point is the passages in thirds. For the rest he has no sentiment or taste, – in a word he is simply a mechanicus.” I’m not sure I entirely agree […]
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Jan Ladislav Dussek Piano Sonatas Volume 2
Brilliant Classics is using eight pianists for their traversal of Dussek piano sonatas. It’s a, well, brilliant idea. It allows each pianist to dive deep into the works they’re going to record. Volume 2 of the series features pianist Piet Kuijken. His thoughtful liner notes show the amount of research he’s applied to these sonatas […]
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Franz Xaver Mozart Piano Works – Worth a Listen
It’s tough being a good composer — when your father’s a great one. Franz Xaver Mozart was the youngest son of Wolfgang Amadeus. Franz’s compositions aren’t ground-breaking, but they are satisfying in their own right. Franz Xaver was a conductor and pianist as well as a composer. As a performer he spent several years touring […]
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Charles Burney Piano 4 Hands Sonatas: Birth of a Genre
I learned three things from this release. Charles Burney was a composer Charles Burney was a pretty good composer Charles Burney pioneered and popularized a musical genre Burney is best remembered today as a music journalist and musicologist. He wrote in great detail of his European tours. Those volumes provide invaluable documentation about late 18th-Century performance […]
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Scott Wheeler – Portraits and Tributes
“The piano is an instrument I play, sometimes in public, though hardly as a virtuoso or a recitalist.” That’s how Scott Wheeler begins his liner notes. As he explains, “I have always used the composer as a sketch pad, a place to explore ideas in two-minute pieces that might turn up in larger works.” The […]
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Visualizing Chopin with Musanim
If you don’t “get” classical music, read on. Musanim.com can help. One of the challenges classical music presents to many people is that it’s not always immediately clear what’s going on. Composers write on many different levels, and often it’s not just the melody that’s important (which may or may not be on the top), […]
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Friedrich Kalkbrenner Op. 4 Sonatas echo Beethoven
In his day, he was one of the most famous pianist/composers in Europe. Friedrich Kalkbrenner ruled the stage until the 1830’s. When Chopin arrived in Paris, it was recommended that he study with Kalkbrenner. Robert Schumann wasn’t quite as impressed — he thought Kalkbrenner was a show-off who wasted whatever talent he had. But perhaps, […]