Sarah Beth Briggs - Small Treasures - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Contreras / Currier / Onix Ensamble / Escuer - Furia y Silencio [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/28/2016

?Beethoven wrote in his diary that he wanted Inchto show the British what a treasure they have in God Save the KingInch, a reference to his set of variations on the national anthem, composed in 1803. Sarah Beth Briggs recorded the virtuoso set precisely one month before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and the recording heralds the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. The lesser-known Variations on an Original Theme in F major (1802) represent Beethoven the revolutionary. Uniquely, each variation was written in a different key which would have jarred the ears of the composer's contemporaries. Sarah Beth Briggs' collection of Variations underlines a lineage of the genre through the classical and romantic eras. Opening the programme is 9 Variations on a Minuet by Duport by Mozart, whom Beethoven greatly admired. The work takes a theme by cellist Jean-Pierre Duport, chamber music director of the court of the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm II, from whom the composer hoped to gain favour. Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses was written as a tribute to Beethoven, and was included in an album of works that raised funds for the now famous bronze statue of Beethoven in Bonn. Mendelssohn's near contemporary Brahms paid tribute to his troubled friend Robert Schumann, using a melody from Bunte Blätter (InchColourful LeavesInch) in his poignant Variations on a Theme by Schumann.

Much lauded for her interpretations of Hans Gál's concerto and chamber music works, Sarah Beth Briggs presents the composer's beguiling Three Preludes alongside well-loved works by three of his greatest Austrian forebears - Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. Following meticulous examination of the original scores, Briggs sensitively translates the authentic character of each work to the resources of a modern piano with revelatory results. Pianist Sarah Beth Briggs - an artist of extraordinary magnetism (Daily Telegraph) - is a leading recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. A long-standing pupil of the late Denis Matthews, she gained a Hindemith Scholarship to study chamber music in Switzerland with celebrated violist Bruno Giuranna, and continued her studies there with renowned Arrau pupil, Chilean pianist Edith Fischer.