Dussek / Meniker - Complete Piano Sonatas 7 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Erste Handlung 2. Lazarus Hier Lasst Mich Ruhn 3. Martha Nach Einem Augenblick 4. Maria Trübe Nicht Mit Klagen 5. Lazarus Voll Friede 6. Arie (Nathanael) Wenn Ich Ihm Nachgerungen 7. Martha Nathanael, Bewundern Kann 8. Maria Matha, Bleibstd Du Stiller 9. Maria Der Trost Begleitet Dich 10. Arie (Maria) Gottes Liebe 11. Jemina Ach, So Find Ich Ihn Doch 12. Arie (Jemina) So Schlummert Auf Rosen 13. Memina Nun Entflog, Auf Schnellen Schwingen 14. Lazarus Ich Sterbe 15. Nathanael Heiliger, Verlass Mich Nicht 16. Zweite Handlung 17. Simon Wo Bin Ich? 18. Arie (Simon) O KÖNNT' Ich, Allgegenwärtiger 19. Chor Sanft Und Still SCHLÄFT Unser Freund 20. Arie (Martha) Hebt Mich Der Stürme Flügel 21. Beifall

These sonatas date from a high-point in the career of the Czech-born Jan Ladislaus Dussek (1760-1812), at a time when he was established in London as a sought-after performer and fashionable piano teacher. His partnership with the instrument-maker John Broadwood resulted in significant technical developments to the fortepiano which would be imitated abroad and capitalized upon in Vienna by Beethoven, notably the extra power and larger range. The Sonata Op.25 No.2 in D has become famous under the name 'La Matinée' a subtitle work that conveys the lively spirit of the sonata and it's irresistible sense of good cheer even in the lyric simplicity of the third-movement Larghetto. The three Op.39 sonatas are more elaborate in conception and design without forsaking the earlier work's transparency and grace. The first movements of Op.39 abound in brilliant figuration, which evidently played to the composer's strengths as a performer, but they are strongly rooted in a sonata-form structure which contrasts a pressing and vivacious first theme with the more tripping, light-hearted character of the second. The concluding Rondos tend to be the highlight, alternating some surprisingly passionate and even stormy episodes with the kind of unpretentious folk-like theme that Schubert would go on to perfect. This is the second in a projected eight-album series to be published by Brilliant Classics, surveying the complete keyboard sonatas of Dussek. The series was launched in fine style by the Dutch fortepianist Bart van Oort, and it is attracting much critical attention which this addition to the series is sure to share. Born in 1972, Piet Kuijken has been professor of piano and fortepiano at the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels since 2002 and is a guest professor for the fortepiano at the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp. Album Tracks 1. I. Adagio Maestoso - Presto 2. II. Larghe

This is the first volume of an extensive recording project using the combined resources of eight world-leading fortepianists. This will amount to the first comprehensive recording of Dussek's piano sonatas on period instruments. It will catalogue the brilliant, harmonically beautiful and expressive music of one of the most fascinating composers at the threshold of early Romanticism, one of Beethoven's most gifted and original contemporaries. In fact the parallels between Dussek and Beethoven are uncanny on this album, featuring three Op.10 sonatas and then Op.31 No.2 (though the 'Pastorale' subtitle corresponds with Beethoven's Op.28). The instrument used on this album is a 1798 fortepiano from the firm of Longman-Clementi. It dates from a decade after the Op.10 sonatas and only a few years after Op.31 No.2 from 1795. Accordingly the touch and sound corresponds more closely than any other piano previously used on recordings of this repertoire. Dussek lived in London during the 1790s, and worked closely with the manufacturer John Broadwood to extend the range of keyboard instruments. The English fortepiano lent itself naturally to the harmonic fullness of Dussek's preferred textures, and in reverse, the instrument's characteristic sound and touch inspired and shaped the development of Dussek's compositional style. Even more important than the instrument is the musician, naturally, and in Bart van Oort these sonatas find an interpreter with years of experience in performing music of this time and place. His complete survey of Mozart's keyboard music was praised in Gramophone for 'attractive intimacy' and 'sensitive, singing accounts'; his survey of early-Romantic nocturnes is distinguished by 'strong, authoritative artistry'. Album Tracks 1. Sonata in a Op. 10 No. 1, Craw 60 (1789) 2. Sonata in G minor Op. 10 No. 2, Craw 61 (1789) 3. Sonata in E Op. 10 No. 3