The piano music of the Czech-born composer Antoine Reicha (1770–1836) – friend of Haydn and Beethoven, teacher of Berlioz, Liszt, Franck and many others – is one of the best-kept secrets in music. He was an important influence on composers of the next generation but apart from an innovative set of fugues his piano works have remained almost unknown since his own day. Encompassing Baroque practices as well as looking forward to the twentieth century, they are full of harmonic and other surprises that show this liveliest of musical minds at work. Reicha’s twenty Études ou Exercices, recorded here for the first time, manage to combine his maverick inventiveness with a considerable degree of charm.
Czech-born composer Antoine Reicha (1770-1836) was an extremely influential influence on composers of the late 19th century. His own compositions, however, fell into obscurity in the shadows of his contemporaries Haydn and Beethoven. This release, compiling Reicha’s complete piano works, displays his usage of both Baroque compositional practices and of compositional practices that would look forward into the twentieth century. An international authority on the piano works of Reicha, Henrik Lowenmark is a Stockholm-based musician who is active as a solo artist, accompanist, and chamber musician.
The eagerly awaited volume 2 in the fascinating exploration of Antoine Reicha’s keyboard music by the trailblazing pianist Ivan Ilic is now out! Ilic here digs into a crucial aspect of Antoine Reicha’s music: counterpoint and the manner in which Bach’s music served as a point of departure for Reicha’s eclectic, fertile mind and wide variety of musical styles. If most of these etudes are made up of a Prelude paired with a Fugue, their variety offers the album great diversity, and unveils the compositional genius of Antoine Reicha: here are unexpected moods and textures, sophisticated canons, cheeky invertible counterpoint, chaconnes and minuet-like character pieces, even a piece the only unifying characteristic of which seems to be its tumbling scales in dotted rhythm. Ilic’s unique interpretations are supported by enlightening booklet notes, written by the pianist himself, shedding light on revelatory moments in the composer’s life. While the musical world will soon become saturated with celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, his friend and exact contemporary Antoine Reicha will enjoy a renaissance with this unmissable series.
He has always stood in Beethoven's shadow, with whom he played in the Bonn Hofkapelle. Yet Anton Reicha is in no way inferior to the Viennese titan in creativity, and Beethoven himself held his colleague of the same age in high esteem. Reason enough to put together a special package for their 250th anniversary: three carefully produced CDs with Reicha's quintets for wind instrument and string quartet each, plus another with orchestral works, make up a pack of four of far more than just historical value. This is not least due to the outstanding artists: The Consortium Classicum around Spiritus Rector Dieter Klöcker is always a bank for high-quality chamber music discoveries, and Peter Gülke with his Symphony Orchestra Wuppertal shows once again his profound understanding of music. The fact that with Ida Biehler and Jean-Claude Gerard for Reicha's Sinfonia Concertante he is accompanied by two world-class soloists makes this re-release an exciting experience once again. Reicha's original spirit is evident not least in his virtuoso handling of form and convention. As a writer of music theoretical and pedagogical values, he was well aware of the expectations of the audience. All the more spectacular is the Overture in D Major: it is in 5/8 time from beginning to end and makes many a connoisseur smile... No wonder that later great names such as Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and Charles Gounod queued up for lessons with him!
The piano music of the Czech-born composer Antoine Reicha (1770–1836) – friend of Haydn and Beethoven, teacher of Berlioz, Liszt and Franck – has only recently begun to be discovered. He was an important influence on composers of the next generation but until the last few years his piano works remained almost completely unknown. Encompassing Baroque practices as well as looking forward to the twentieth century, they are full of harmonic and other surprises that show this liveliest of musical minds at work. In this fourth volume of his survey of Reicha’s piano music Henrik Löwenmark sandwiches a number of quixotic miniatures between two grand but idiosyncratic sonatas.
Reicha: Chamber Music / Albert Schweitzer Ensemble
CPO
CD
$36.99Jun 07, 2024
A full ten months older than Ludwig van Beethoven and a friend since their years together in Bonn, the Bohemian Antonín Reicha is to a certain extent a complementary addition to the revolutionary achievements of the "Titan". You can hear at every turn that he also had a pronounced tendency towards experimentation. This is seen mostly in his extremely "relaxed" treatment of established norms – a minuet where any dancer would immediately and hopelessly falter; variations with extremely contrasting means of expression; harmonic and melodic impudence; an often very subtle way of shifting phrases; and astonishing scoring – these are the characteristics of a man that shook the foundations of Paris and beyond.
