Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Arr. E. Impellizzeri for String Quartet)
Quartetto Accademia, Paolo Ghidoni, Agnese Tasso, Eva Impellizzeri, Michele Ballarini
When the Russian designer and architect Viktor Hartmann died unexpectedly of an aneurysm in 1873, Mussorgsky fell into a state of profound depression. The two artists had grown close. A memorial exhibition was quickly planned, and over four hundred of Hartmann's works were ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre:
The Polonaise Fantaisie, Op. 61 (1846), a piece that is perhaps the composer's most intimate autobiographical confession, was looked by Franz Liszt looked with suspicion, and considered it a reflection of Chopin’s irremediable illness. Today, not only is it considered one of Chopin's greatest achievements, but also shows the ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
The two albums OC19040B and OC19041B introduce Beethoven’s more intimate works that appropriately trace his evolution: from the four Sonatinas, WoO 50 and 51, Anh. 5/1, 5/2, composed in the late 1780s or early 1790s and published posthumously; exploring the four ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas, Op. 30 Nos. 1-3, Vol 2
Paolo Ghidoni & Marco Grisanti
Beethoven opened the new century with the publication of his first symphony, but also with that of other important works, such as four piano sonatas (Opp. 26, 27, and 28) and two sonatas for piano and violin – in A Minor, Op. 23, and F Major, Op. 24. Originally, the two sonatas were ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre:
Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 13, D. 664 & No. 15, D. 840 "Reliquie"
In this first album of a series devoted to the complete piano sonatas of Franz Schubert, Giuseppe Bruno interprets the Sonatas in A Major, D664 and in C Major, D840. The Sonata in A Major is possibly the composer’s first breakthrough in the genre. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4 & 9
Paolo Ghidoni & Marco Grisanti
Beethoven opened the new century with the publication of his first symphony, but also with that of other important works, such as four piano sonatas (Opp. 26, 27, and 28) and two sonatas for piano and violin – in A Minor, Op. 23, and F Major, Op. 24. Originally, the two sonatas were published in ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 10, 78 & 79
The two albums OC19040B and OC19041B introduce Beethoven’s more intimate works that appropriately trace his evolution: from the four Sonatinas, WoO 50 and 51, Anh. 5/1, 5/2, composed in the late 1780s or early 1790s and published posthumously; exploring the four sonatas of the first-period ....
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Liszt: Les préludes & Faust-Symphonie (Version for 2 Pianos)
Giuseppe Bruno & Vincenzo Maxia
Possibly the first example of symphonic poem, “Les préludes” (1854) originated from an earlier setting of four poems by Joseph Autran from mixed chorus and piano, completed in 1845. Three years later, Liszt’s new interest in orchestration compelled him to elaborate the four movements into an ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
In this new album, Russian pianist Galina Chistiakova offers a program that spans Chopin’s entire compositional career, from the early Mazurkas, Opp. 6 and 7 to the pinnacle of extraordinary pianism that is the Barcarolle, Op. 60. Chistiakova chose to alternate each of the three major ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Beethoven: Cello Sonatas & Variations
In the early 19th century and earlier, the instrumental sonata for ensemble that included piano was usually called "piano sonata with instrumental accompaniment". Beethoven's first violin sonatas, for instance, were published as "sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment." While most sonatas with cello from the 18th century were written for ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Concertos
The first Violin Sonata, in G major, Op. 78, "Regensonate", was composed during the summers of 1878 and 1879, in Pörtschach am Wörthersee. Each of its three movements shares common motivic ideas or thematic materials from the principal motif of Brahms's two songs "Regenlied" and "Nachklang", Op. 59. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Beethoven’s Opus 2, published in Wien in March 1796, is the first work in which the composer’s strong personality is declared. Accordingly to Carli Ballola, Piano Sonatas Op. 2 are the manifesto of the style that the composer achieved in the early XVIII century and that will be characterizing ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
The Sonáta 'pro klavír' „I. X. 1905, Z ulice“, JW 8/19 (Piano Sonata “1 October 1905, From the Street” in E minor, JW 8/19, 1905) was inspired by the tragic and violent death of a protester during a demonstration calling for the construction of a new Czech university. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Bach: French Suites, BWV 812-817
The six French Suites, BWV 812–817 were written for the clavier (harpsichord or clavichord) by Johann Sebastian Bach between 1722 and 1725. They were later given the name "French" by Bach's biographer J.N. Forkel, who wrote that "one usually calls them French Suites because they are written ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Haydn: Late Piano Sonatas, Nos. 59-62
Nowadays most performers overlook Haydn's piano sonatas, mainly because over years these works have been deemed as less-interesting or duller than those by Haydn's fellow composers, namely Mozart and Beethoven. This unrighteous judgement stems definitely from a sloppy ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
The 3 Violin Sonatas by Edvard Grieg are a mixture of German and Austrian traditions with the Nordic folk. The experience at the Leipzig Conservatory, where the strong influence of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann was felt, and the trips to Italy, especially Rome, where ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Written over the course of thirty-five years, the Lyric Pieces accompanied Edward Grieg’s (1843-1907) entire career as a composer. The first volume appeared in 1867, when a youthful Grieg compiled some of his early compositions into a set of six pieces. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
It is difficult not to be won over by the rhythm and unmistakable thematic creativity of Scott Joplin's compositions. Born in 1867 or ’68 (the exact date is not known) and gifted with a natural talent, Joplin began to play as a self-taught pianist in the wealthy ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 12, 15, 19, 20 & 27
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op. 26, in 1800–1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony. The structure of the sonata is unconventional in that the piece opens with a relatively slow movement in the format of theme and variations. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
Debussy: Préludes, Books 1 & 2
Written between 1909 and 1913, Préludes are probably Claude Debussy's most important work for piano. It consists in a series of 24 short pieces, equally subdivided into two books. Unlike Chopin's, Bach's and many other composer's homonymous series, these pieces aren't sorted ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
