Gerhard Weinberger - Johann Patroclus Moeller Organ - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The piano works of Alexander Skriabin, gathered on the newest by Konstantin Semilakov, allow us to trace the development of his musical language through the chronological order of their composition. Starting from an early phase influenced by 19th century music, it gradually reveals a groundbreaking harmonic system that is no longer based on major-minor tonal connections. Born in Riga in 1984, pianist Konstantin Semilakovs is laureate of the First Prize of the International Piano Competition in Porto, Portugal and prizewinner of the Competition for Young Pianists Ettlingen, Germany. Since 2018 he is appointed professor of piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He is passionate about researching the phenomenon of 'colour' in the classical piano repertoire and synaesthetic performing of works by the composers Olivier Messiaen and Alexander Scriabin.

One can easily find a great number of outstanding chamber music works for string instruments; on the other hand, chamber music repertoire for woodwinds on a similar high level of composition is relatively sparse. By the 1800s, string instruments and the piano had achieved a high standard in terms of playing technique and construction; wind instruments, however, lagged somewhat behind. Woodwinds still sounded uneven across their registers and suffered from technical constraints, including limitations in terms of musical keys all of this must have exerted a counterproductive influence on a generation of Romantic composers who wanted to expand music's horizons in terms of dynamics and harmony. The Ma'alot Wind Quintet has teamed up on this album with pianist Markus Becker in works by Ludwig van Beethoven for piano and woodwinds, supplemented by several of Beethoven's charming works for flute-playing clock, arranged by clarinetist Ulf-Guido Schäfer for woodwind quintet. The main raison-d'être for this choice of program lies in the fact that Beethoven himself composed an excellent large-scale original work for four woodwinds (oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon) and piano - a work which, in terms of musical proportions and compositional ingenuity, rose far above the standard of what was otherwise being written for winds at the time when it was premiered (1796).That original composition is coupled on this album with another work by Beethoven for which we no longer have the original instrumentation, but which can be reconstructed, thanks to a series of circumstances, to a point of departure from which Ulf-Guido Schäfer has been able to arrange it as a chamber music Concerto for piano and wind quintet. Album Tracks 1. Piano Concerto in E Flat Major, Woo 4 2. Four Pieces for Mechanical Flute-Playing Clock, Woo 33 3. Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon

Album Tracks 1. Herzlich Lieb Hab Ich Dich, O Herr' 2. Jesu, Der Du Meine Seele 3. Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan 4. Trio Sopra 'Mein Gott, Das Herze Bring Ich Dir' 5. Ach Herr, Mich Armen Sünder 6. O Ewigkeit, Du Donnerwort 7. Fantasia Sopra 'Freu Dich Sehr, O Meine Seele' 8. Fantasia Sopra 'Jesus, Meine Zuversicht' 9. Herr, Ich Habe Mißgehandelt 10. Fantasia Sopra 'Herr Jesus Christ, Dich Zu Uns Wend' 11. Zeuch Ein Zu Deinen Toren 12. Meinen Jesum Laß Ich Nicht