This release brings together three violin concertos by three close friends — Johannes Brahms, Julius Rontgen, and his wife, Amanda Maier. Rontgen and Maier were both talented violinists. The couple performed together, and even composed together. Brahms would visit the Rontgen home when in town. And Brahms and Rontgen gave public concerts together in Amsterdam. […]
Concerto
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Eleanor Alberga Violin Concertos – collaborative classics
Eleanor Alberga and her husband Thomas Bowes make quite a team. As the piano/violin duo Double Exposure they toured and performed together. And they frequently performed Alberga’s music. The blend of personal and artistic intimacy between the two inspired both. Case in point, the two violin concertos featured on this release. In 2001 Alberga chose […]
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Michael Haydn Concertos Worth Reviving
Michael Haydn was a great composer — just not as great as his older brother Franz Joseph. The two were both highly regarded during their lifetimes. But over time Franz Joseph’s popularity completely eclipsed Michael’s. To be fair, choral music was Michael Haydn’s forte. But his relatively few orchestral works are more than historical curiosities. […]
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Eduard Franck Piano Concertos Receive Their Due
Eduard Franck was a pianist and composer, active in the late 1800s. He studied with Felix Mendelssohn. Franck then went on to have a successful career as a concert pianist and pedagogue. Robert Schumann thought highly of his music. So why isn’t it better known? Franck was something of a perfectionist and continually tinkered with […]
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Kaveli Aho Double and Triple Concertos – Definitive Performances
Finnish composer Kaveli Aho is a symphonist. His ideas seem best-suited to large-scale works. Among those large-scale works are 36 concertos, including the two on this recording. And within the subset of concertos, these two are also large-scale. One is a double concerto, the other a triple concerto. Aho composed his double concerto for cor […]
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Anne-Marie McDermott brings new insights to Mozart concertos
For volume four, Anne-Marie McDermott presents two contrasting Mozart piano concertos. And the contrast goes beyond just the concertos. The supplied cadenzas also represent two very different interpretations of Mozart’s music. The Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503 is one of Mozart’s longest concertos. And many consider it one of his greatest. […]
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Leila Schayegh completes LeClair violin concerto series
This completes Leila Schayegh’s traversal of Jean-Marie Leclair Op. 7 and Op. 10 concertos. LeClair was one of the premier violinists of the early 1700s. He’s credited with founding the French school of violin-playing. Bottom line: LeClair was a monster player — and he expected anyone performing his concertos to be the same! As with […]
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Franz Dimler Clarinet Concertos close to Mozart
Franz Dimler was a talented guy. He was hired as a French horn player at Mannheim in 1767. In 1778 he joined the Munich court as a double bass player. And all the while he composed: symphonies, concertos, quartets, and operettas. After his death in 1827, Dimler’s music lapsed into obscurity. So I’m happy to […]
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Johann Wilhelm Hertel Concertos – light and airy
Johann Wilhelm Hertel is classed today as a transitional composer. He was active in the mid-1700s and wrote in the Empfindsamer Stil. The idea behind this “emotional style” was to express natural emotion. This was a departure from the formalized — and focussed — emotional expression of the Baroque. From the Empfindsamer Stil, Classical Era composers would go […]