Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:58 minutes | 947 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

Carl Maria von Weber wrote music that has been admired by composers as diverse as Schumann, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky. But in his lifetime he was also recognised as one of the finest pianists of the period, with an exceptional technique and a brilliant gift for improvisation. Especially during the 1810s he toured extensively, and like other composer-pianists he wrote works to use as his personal calling cards, among them the two piano concertos recorded here. They were both composed in 1811-12, but while the First Concerto takes Mozart’s concertos as its model, Piano Concerto No. 2 looks towards Beethoven. This change of direction was probably influenced by the fact that Weber had acquired a score of Beethoven’s recently published “Emperor” Concerto. In any case there are some striking similarities between his concerto and Beethoven’s: the use of identical keys, and the inclusion of a slow, subtly orchestrated Adagio and a closing playful rondo in 6/8.

Weber is unmistakeably Weber, however: a highly original orchestrator whose music is at turns brilliant, melancholy and charming. These qualities are to the fore also in the Konzertstück from 1821, in which the composer liberates himself from Classical models and finds a new path. Much admired by Liszt, the work is a kind of symphonic poem in four sections, played without a break.

Tracklist:
01. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 11, J. 98: I. Allegro (08:17)
02. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 11, J. 98: II. Adagio (03:24)
03. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 11, J. 98: III. Finale. Presto (07:22)
04. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 32, J. 155: I. Allegro maestoso (09:00)
05. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 32, J. 155: II. Adagio (04:35)
06. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 32, J. 155: III. Rondo. Presto (06:58)
07. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Konzertstück in F Minor, Op. 79, J. 282: Larghetto affettuoso (04:52)
08. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Konzertstück in F Minor, Op. 79, J. 282: Allegro passionato (04:00)
09. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Konzertstück in F Minor, Op. 79, J. 282: Adagio (00:26)
10. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Konzertstück in F Minor, Op. 79, J. 282: Tempo di marcia (01:54)
11. Ronald Brautigam, Kölner Akademie & Michael Alexander Willens – Weber: Konzertstück in F Minor, Op. 79, J. 282: Più mosso (05:07)

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