Schubert: Tanze Des Biedermeier / Charlotte Baumgartner

$21.99
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.
SCHUBERT Tänze des Biedermeier • Charlotte Baumgartner (pn) • GRAMOLA 98807 (69:16) 17 Deutsche Tänze (Ländler), D 366. Deutscher in C?, D 139. 11 Ecossaisen,...


SCHUBERT Tänze des Biedermeier • Charlotte Baumgartner (pn) • GRAMOLA 98807 (69:16)


17 Deutsche Tänze (Ländler), D 366. Deutscher in C?, D 139. 11 Ecossaisen, D 781. Menuet in c?, D 600. Two Ländler in E?, D 679. Variation on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, D 718. 12 Valses nobles, D 969. 2 Minuets with 4 Trios, D 91. Waltz in G, D 979. 16 Deutsche Tänze and 2 Ecossaises, D 783. 16 Wiener Damen-Ländler and 2 Ecossaises, D 734. 2 Deutsche Tänze, D 841


SCHUBERT Moments musicaux, D 780. Impromptus, D 935. 12 Grazer Waltzer, D 924. Grazer Galopp in C, D 925 • Charlotte Baumgartner (pn) • GRAMOLA 98824 (79:58)


These two discs, whose German titles translate as Biedermeier Dances and Autumn Leaves , constitute some of Schubert’s last music for piano, most of it composed around the fall of 1827. The excellent liner notes by Stefan Baumgartner-Tauböck give an interesting little history of the dance etiquette of the Biedermeier period—the types of dances, their order, and Schubert’s role as composer and player—and perhaps of greater significance, the confluence of light and dark emerging from Schubert’s pen, when the lighthearted dance music can suddenly turn poignant and piercing. There are numerous examples in the sets of dance music on the Herbstblätter CD (waltzes and galops in the Ländler tradition, probably improvised at the Schubertiads organized by his friends and fortunately written down by the composer). On that Autumn Leaves disc, light-hearted dances are juxtaposed with the serious, often poignant music of the Impromptus and some of the Moments musicaux. Even though the dances are brief works, mostly constructed in two sections (8 + 8 measures), the wealth of Schubert’s musical imagination lends constant variety and charming melodies. The Impromptus and Moments musicaux are, of course, among Schubert’s best-known and most recorded piano pieces and need no further description.


Charlotte Baumgartner, by virtue of birthplace, heritage, and training, is as authentically qualified as anyone can be to perform Schubert’s music. She is a native Viennese who was trained in a conservatory in Vienna. (Later, as a grant recipient, she also studied at Indiana University with Edward Auer and Leonard Hokanson.) But Baumgartner’s qualifications would count for little without her inherent musicality; and happily, her Schubert playing is tasteful and elegant, keenly sensitive to the many nuances of the Viennese classical style and to the intensely expressive language of Franz Schubert. In general, she uses pedal sparingly and her playing is very clear. Her use of rubato is subtle and refined, and she demonstrates most convincingly the exquisite sensibility of Schubert’s style, without any exaggerations. The Moments musicaux are exceptionally beautiful, especially No. 2 in A? (memorably heard as the background music in the heart-rending film Au revoir les enfants). Perhaps more striking changes in color would be welcome, but there is no denying Baumgartner’s affinity with Schubert, in which she displays her acquaintance with the great traditions handed down from previous Schubertians such as Schnabel, of course, and Clara Haskil, Lili Kraus, Wilhelm Kempff, and Annie Fischer.


The two discs were recorded on different instruments, both of them slightly oversized; after the Hamburg Steinway, they are the top choices for most European (and other) pianists: a Bösendorfer for Autumn Leaves and a Fazioli for the Biedermeier Dances . The Fazioli, which has a marvelously sonorous bass, sounds a little anemic and tinny in the high treble range, but there is little essential difference in overall sound quality between these two fine pianos, and the recordings are superb. I hope that Baumgartner will continue recording Schubert and demonstrate her insights into the sonatas.


FANFARE: Susan Kagan


Product Description:

  • Release Date: September 01, 2006


  • UPC: 9003643988071


  • Catalog Number: GRAM98807


  • Label: Gramola Records


  • Number of Discs: 1


  • Composer: Franz Schubert


  • Performer: Charlotte, Baumgartner