Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was famous from an early age as a pianist, utilizing the sophisticated Viennese instruments that were developed from the 1770's by builders such as Anton Walter and Andreas Stein. On this companion album to MO0409, distinguished fortepianist, Trudelies Leonhardt, presents another programme of Mozart's solo sonatas from Salzburg, Mannheim and Vienna, as well as the Rondo in D major, K. 485 and the sublime Adagio in B minor, K. 540. Leonhardt performs ona fortepiano built by Paul McNulty, a replica of an instrument by Mozart's favorite maker, Anton Walter.

The keyboard works of Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (1763-1842) represent a synthesis of the styles circulating around Europe at the turn of the 19th century. The sonatas on this album, from his Opp. 9, 10 and 12 collections, reveal both his admiration for Mozart and his own tendencies towards Classicism, in dialogue with the French galant style, with the melodic traits of the Italian operatic style, and with the virtuosic formulae of the innovative piano music associated with Muzio Clementi. The six Balletti are more modest in scale and probably intended for domestic use by amateurs. On the other hand, the Caprice Op.8 undoubtedly addresses the power and dynamic range of the new piano, with an innovative, unresolved conclusion on the dominant. Born in the Trento region of Italy, Ferrari studied music in Verona and could play the flute, oboe, violin, viola and double bass by the age of twenty. He became friends with both Paisiello and Thomas Attwood, the friend and contemporary of Mozart, whose quartets dedicated to Haydn made a deep impact on the young Ferrari. Having written operas in Naples, in 1792 he moved to London, where he met Haydn and Clementi and quickly became a leading singing teacher, with the Princess of Wales among his pupils. It was there that he achieved his most lasting professional success. He wrote a pair of piano concertos, and about 50 sonatas. The instrument used in this recording is a replica of a five-and-a-half octave 1804 Walter und Soehne fortepiano, built by Paul McNulty in 2008. Like Ferrari, Stefania Neonato hails from the Trento region; she is now professor of fortepiano at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, and her activities in teaching, performance and recording are concentrated on Classical-era music for fortepiano.

For this new recording, violinist Peter Hanson, one of the most prominent period instrument players of his generation, turns his attention to Mozart’s extraordinary and innovative output of sonatas for violin and piano. Hanson is joined by acclaimed keyboard player and regular collaborator Andrew Arthur in this programme of four sonatas (K. 301, K. 304–5 & K. 454), each of which was dedicated to an exceptional woman of the time, with the aristocratic dedication of the ‘Kurfürstin’ sonatas for the Electress Maria Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach (K. 301–6) and K. 454’s dedication to Regina Strinasacchi – a performer of particular talent who gave the first performance with Mozart at the piano. For this album, a stunning copy of an original Walter fortepiano is used as well as a striking Guadagnini violin bearing pure gut strings.

“Oh, do it Clara darling!” said Robert Schumann to his bride Clara, strongly encouraging her to pursue composing. Although the pianist had always composed, when she married in 1840 – without being asked to – she was immediately willing to dispense with this part of her musical output: “A woman does not have to desire to compose – so far not one has been able to do so; should that be what I am destined to do?” Clara is caught up in a crisis and feels resigned: “But I cannot compose…I lack all talent for it.” Only after the wedding did Clara return to composing. As long as her father or husband encouraged her to do so, in her consummate adaptability she did so with joy. But after Robert’s death in 1856, Clara stopped composing entirely.

It does not appear that the Mendelssohns were able to enjoy Heine’s kinder side. Although Heine was sometimes a visitor at their home in Berlin, somehow friendly relations did not develop. However, the poet Heine held Fanny in high regard. She had already set his poems “Was will die einsame Träne” (Why this solitary tear) and “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen” (On a radiant summer morning) to music in 1827/28. Her song setting of Heine’s “Schwanenlied” (Song of the swan) – was her first published work, but this only happened in 1846. At first Fanny chose to set poems by her bridegroom Wilhelm to music, of which she had already composed “Lebewohl” (Farewell) the same year they met and before the wedded couple were separated for a long period. Upon getting married she, too, began a busy and fruitful artistic collaboration that involved the daily morning ritual of Wilhelm leaving poems on the piano for her to set to music.

The Piano Quintets, opp. 70 and 76, are substantial and full bodied dramatic works in classical style.

George Onslow’s grandfather was the first Earl of Onslow. Onslow’s father had been forced to leave England after a family scandal, continuing his life as a nobleman in France. George was born there and grew up in the magnificent castle of Chalendrat in Clermont-Ferrand, where he followed his father as lord of the manor. At the age of 22 he discovered the operas of Mehul and decided then that music was his vocation.

Onslow’s musical style was very different from that of his colleagues and contemporaries. With his strict classical style, he was unique in Paris, concentrating on instrumental works, primarily chamber music. Schumann described Onslow’s quartets as worthy successors to those by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. This recording combines two Piano Quintets, the opus 70 and 76, substantial and full bodied dramatic works in classical style.

Founded 1999, the Nepomok Fortepiano Quintet play on original instruments, the piano an exceptionally fine period instrument from the famous Edwin Beunk collection.

Over the course of his long and eventful career, Dussek composed 38 violin sonatas – or rather sonatas for the keyboard, accompanied by the violin – and the partnership of Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann is acquiring impressive credentials and critical praise as they gradually uncover them for the first time.

‘This is one excellent disc,’ noted the Fanfare reviewer of Volume 1 (96385). ‘Julia Huber and fortepianist Miriam Altmann give wonderful renditions. Each plays off of each other, with clarity, technical acumen, and a good sense of phrasing… You ought to have this as an integral part of any collection of chamber music of the period.’

Volume 2 (96588) was received with equal enthusiasm: ‘This is an outstanding continuation of the series… done with style and verve by Julia Huber and Mariam Altmann… Well worth getting.’ Volume 3 presents a contrast of sonatas from the beginning and near the end of Dussek’s life. Even the early Op. 4, No. 3 Sonata, however, shares the qualities of the mature Dussek noted by one contemporary reviewer: ‘Dussek's strength in composition lies in the idiosyncrasy, the novelty, the striking, brilliant quality of his rich invention, and, as far as the development is concerned, in the fire and the intimacy which his works seldom lack.’

Fire and intimacy: what else would we expect from a wide-ranging opening movement subtitled ‘L’amante disperato’ (The forlorn lover), with playing indications such as Amoroso and Lamentabile and dynamic indications from triple piano to triple forte?The sonata’s argument is concentrated in the piano part, with the violin marked as ‘ad libitum’, whereas the two Sonatas Op.69 show more of a partnership, albeit still led from the keyboard in the manner of works in the same genre bv Mozart and (until the ‘Kreutzer’) Beethoven.

Both Op. 69 Sonatas take the listener on a gripping narrative through typically bravura piano writing and unexpected turns of incident. No.2 is unusually structured in two expansive halves, while the quick outer movements of No.1 are separated by a songful Adagio subtitled ‘Les soupirs’ (The Sighs’) no doubt for the appreciation of Dussek’s French audience.

Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) continues an acclaimed project to record Mozart’s complete works for keyboard and orchestra, with this eleventh volume of the series. Renowned pianists Robert Levin and Ya-Fei Chuang join Laurence Cummings and AAM to present Mozart’s Concertos Nos. 7 and 10, the former of which is recorded here in Mozart’s own arrangement for two pianos. Also included is the Concerto Movement for Piano, Violin, and Orchestra, completed by Robert Levin. This hardback CD package is accompanied by comprehensive notes commissioned specially for the album.

Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) resumes a celebrated project to record Mozart’s complete Piano Concertos, with this ninth volume released after an extraordinary 20-year wait. Together with renowned scholar-pianist Robert Levin, AAM presents Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 21 in C Major K467, perhaps one of Mozart’s most well-known Piano Concertos and featured in films The Spy Who Loved Me and Elvira Madigan, and No. 24 in C Minor K491, described by Mozart scholar Alexander Hyatt King as ‘not only the most sublime of the whole series but also one of the greatest pianoforte concertos ever composed’. AAM’s founder Christopher Hogwood and Robert Levin came together in 1993 to record Mozart’s complete works for keyboard and orchestra for the first time ever on period instruments. Only eight albums out of a total of 13 were recorded, with the most recent released in 2001. This release marks the renewal of this landmark project and will be followed by the four final albums of the series later in 2023 and 2024.

In the early 19th century, while Haydn and Mozart remained revered, many of their once admired contemporaries quickly fell into oblivion and with them much delightful, finely crafted music. In a recital centered on songs of parting, Carolyn Sampson and Kristian Bezuidenhout seek to make some amends to this. They open with August Bernhard Valentin Herbing's Montan und Lalage, a miniature opera for one singer, with the keyboard-as-orchestra providing the scenery and stage action. Giving Bezuidenhout's fortepiano the recognition it deserves, the program also includes no less than two songs dedicated to the instrument, by composers we rarely hear of today: Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer and Christian Michael Wolff. But even though Mozart and Haydn are still household names, it isn’t on account of their solo songs, which makes the performers’ decision to also throw light on their less familiar work a welcome one. The program features four songs each by them, including Mozart’s Lied der Trennung (Song of Parting), which has lent its name to the entire program, as well as Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos, a dramatic cantata in which the Cretan princess Ariadne expresses her love of the Greek hero Theseus … and her agony when he sails off, leaving her alone on the island of Naxos.

REVIEW:

This a program cleverly designed, as they so often are today. The theme is separation, but the opening extensive song is by August Bernhard Valentin Herbing, a long narrative to be balanced by Joseph Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos at the other end. In between are other songs by composers both familiar and not: 4 by Mozart, 3 other ones by Haydn, interspersed with 2 by Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer and one by Christian Michael Wolff. It should be noted that the Haydn songs, apart from Arianna, aren’t from his late English settings, but are German-language pieces written a couple of decades earlier. Sampson is a “known quantity”, a pure and well-controlled soprano whose home is more or less exactly where she is here: late 18th- and early 19th Century lieder. Bezuidenhout (on loan to BIS from Harmonia Mundi) is a firstclass fortepianist, quite capable of pushing his instrument past its reasonable limits, as he does at the end of Arianna.

-- American Record Guide

La contemplazione offers a glimpse into “Viennese Classicism” through two authors who, while almost antagonistic, were also complementary and contemporary: Hummel and Schubert. In the late 1820s, European music was at a fascinating crossroads: the musical style that had dominated the old continent since 1780 (commonly known as “Viennese Classicism”) was in crisis and entering its final phase. At a time when tradition and innovation coexisted, emerging expressive needs pushed composers to seek alternatives to classical canons. La contemplazione offers a glimpse into this period through two authors who, while almost antagonistic, were also complementary and contemporary: Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) and Franz Schubert (1797-1828). About the Instrument: Fortepiano Graf 1826/1827 (Edwin Beunk collection)

In an environment of fierce competition among various piano manufacturing houses, Conrad Graf emerged as the reference brand in Vienna, even being named the official constructor of the empire. Graf built the piano used in this recording in 1826 or 1827 with a range of six and a half octaves.

Haydn’s creative imagination was stimulated by eminent Italian composers such as Porpora and Scarlatti and by his contemporary C.P.E. Bach, whose piano sonatas Haydn had performed. Through Georg Wagenseil, an important figure in Viennese music for the piano, he also absorbed a new sense of musical form. Together, these influences generated Haydn’s own individual language, as shown in the Sonata in C major with its elegance and wit. The Andante con variazioni in F minor shows further refinement and development in the composer’s command of variation form. Alexandra Ivanova performs on fortepianos from Haydn’s era.

The start of an exciting new project: the recording of the complete violin sonatas by Dussek!

Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760-1812) was born in rural Bohemia. He led a restless life, travelling Europe as a keyboard virtuoso and settling in several European capitals, notably Paris and London, where he became a fashionable pianist and teacher. His close connection to piano manufacturer Broadwood resulted in important innovations, notably the extension of the keyboard to 6 octaves.

Dussek’s style is rich, harmonically expressive and pianistically challenging, Classicism on the brink of Early Romanticism. Carl Friedrich Cramer writes in the “Magazin der Musik” in 1783: "These sonatas are the only ones of their kind. Rich in new thoughts and traces of the author's great musical genius. Very brilliant, and appropriate to the instrument. The accompaniment of the violin is so artificially combined with the piano part that both instruments are kept in constant attention; so that these sonatas require a violin player who is just as skilled as a piano player."

Played by Julia Huber (violin), a prizewinner of the Locatelli Competition Amsterdam, and concertmaster of L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra Linz and La Stagione Frankfurt. Miriam Altmann studied piano, fortepiano and harpsichord, she specializes in the Early Classical repertoire and recorded works by Gyrowetz. Both musicians play period instruments.

Madame Hélène de Montgeroult (1764–1836) lived in a time when significant historical events were shaping France and Europe. Montgeroult's musical oeuvre is distinguished by its interpretive versatility. The collection of nine sonatas presented here spans from 1795 to 1811. The three sonatas that make up her Op. 1 are three distinct pieces, each with its own mood. The Op. 2 set was engraved in Paris in 1800, with reprints issued in the ensuing years testament to its success at the time. It can be seen as an expansion of Op. 1's stylistic language, sharing the same compositional features, but greater in length. With the last three sonatas, Op. 5, published by Érard in 1811, Montgeroult rose to mastery. These sonatas are considerably longer and more complex in their formal structure than their predecessors. Overall, the three sonatas in the Op. 5 set expand the form while retaining a Classical-like structure, comparable to later Clementi sonatas or those of other composers of the time, and forecasting the later experimentations of the Romantic generation.

The latest volume in a critically acclaimed series presents modern recordings of Dussek’s exhilaratingly diverse cycle of piano sonatas on instruments of his own time.

This enterprising series has reached the trio of ‘Grand Sonatas’ Op. 35, probably first published in 1798, when Dussek dedicated them to Gabrielle Pleyel (wife of the piano manufacturer Ignaz Pleyel) and Muzio Clementi, the composer, publisher, and piano manufacturer who developed new, more powerful-sounding and reliable piano actions. Dussek, like Beethoven, seized on such technological innovation and produced music of new turbulence such as the C minor Sonata Op. 35 No. 3. The sonata’s opening Allegro bursts with vitality and violence, which becomes all the more vivid when played on a piano from Dussek’s time, straining to contain the music’s expressive reach, as it is here.

The instrument used on this album is a 1798 fortepiano from the firm of Longman-Clementi. Accordingly, the touch and sound correspond 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.

Op. 69 No. 3 belongs to a collection of sonatas which Dussek composed with an optional violin part. Nos. 1 and 2 in the set have already received historically informed recordings in a separate Brilliant Classics project, with Julia Huber and Miriam Altmann, but this series presents the piano-only version which all the same contains the full argument of the sonata. In partnership with Bart van Oort, Petra Somlai contributed to Volume 9 in this series, which was welcomed in Fanfare magazine with glowing praise: ‘Both musicians have the requisite technique, and their execution of Dussek’s virtuoso writing is impressive… Both artists play with sensitivity and attractive tone. The recorded sound is fine, with admirable warmth and detail.’

Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760–1812) was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the foremost keyboard performers and composers of his age. Over a span of three decades, Dussek completed nearly 300 compositions, most of which involve a keyboard instrument. The sonata as a genre holds a special position in his overall oeuvre: keyboard sonatas were among his first published pieces in the early 1780s, and the sonata Op. 77 in F minor was to be his last work before his death in 1812.

This set is the result of an extensive recording project using the combined resources of eight excellent fortepianists to produce the first comprehensive recording of Dussek’s keyboard sonatas on period instruments. Listeners are invited to take a journey through the brilliant, harmonically beautiful and expressive music of one of the most fascinating composers at the threshold of early Romanticism. While in modern times piano building has been largely standardised, 18th-century instruments were very personal works of art, and their construction differed from town to town and from builder to builder, and even within one builder’s output. The distance between cities as far apart as London and Vienna resulted in two distinct schools of piano building: the “English” and the “Viennese.”

The formidable array of both English and Viennese fortepianos played on this recording (see info below) provides listeners with a parallel journey, alongside through Dussek’s music, exploring the great tonal variety that existed amongst fortepianos in the composer’s day, with each instrument’s unique qualities matched to the differing characters of Dussek’s works.