infotext:
LISZT - BACH - STRAVINSKY Theodor W. Adorno, a determined despiser of Stravinsky, judged his neoclassicism to be just as "infantilistic" as his early work, and quoting him here would be "counterproductive" if he hadn't also said something that was applicable to this Stravinsky phase, for example: " …thus Neoclassicism practices Stravinsky's old habit of assembling fragile, separate models together. It's traditional music, combed against the grain«. That wouldn't be a bad characterization of what ended in 1935 Concerto for two solo pianos, especially the first movement, which is in fact a kind of modular composition, an entertaining game of putting together apparently familiar set pieces. Such composing, unlike that of Schönberg, did not fit into Adorno's post-Hegelian (music) historical view of compositional meaning and context, which could still be further developed. Nevertheless, it is surprising that Adorno did not occasionally take Igor Stravinsky's “combing against the grain” as an expression of that “critical awareness” which he – Adorno – regarded as the most important condition of modern composition. But as far as the assessment of the concerto is concerned, there is no need to complain about the philosopher: towards the end of the "Philosophy of New Music" he remarkably praises the piece: "Stravinsky's efforts to create a richer musical structure have produced impressive things like the first three movements of the concerto for two pianos – the second is a thoroughly unusual and distinguished piece...«. So the first sentence: a modular, but coherent form. There is nevertheless some composed cohesion through a varied E minor theme, ostinato sixteenth-note mechanism, repetition figures, increases towards very Russian-sounding bell effects and the equal virtuosity of the pianists. The middle section, in B flat major removed from the tritone, begins and ends as a jazzy tarantella. The second movement, the Notturno admired by Adorno, largely retains the principle of playing around the theme of Piano I with delicately turned and slightly ironic preciousness over clockwork-like ticking chords of Piano II. The Quattro variazioni (movement 3) are less variations than very different character pieces, each of which quotes the first five notes of the theme that becomes the subject of a bulky fugue “with all the chicanes” in the final movement – stretto and inversion included. Father Igor and son Swjatoslaw Soulima-Stravinsky premiered the concerto in 1935 in the Salle Gaveau in Paris and three years later recorded it for disc - in a technically astonishingly good and swift version. As precisely as we know how Stravinsky's Concerto sounded in the rendition of the composer and his son, our notions of how Johann Sebastian Bach played it almost exactly 200 years earlier – possibly also in a father-son constellation – are just as vague Concerto in C major, BWV 1061 sounded. Namely in the coffee house or in the guest garden of the café owner Gottfried Zimmermann, who went down in music history by hosting the famous Leipzig Collegium musicum, whose artistic director was the Thomaskantor for around fifteen years. In addition to the authentic sound, one tries to imagine the surprise and pleasure of the connoisseurs of the bourgeoisie, who witnessed the establishment of a genre that would become and remain the most popular over the course of the century: the harpsichord or piano concerto. Most of the thirteen surviving Bach concertos for one to four harpsichords are arrangements of older violin or oboe concertos, with the exception of BWV 1061, which is in Bach's autograph without Orchestral part has been handed down and can be performed (almost) without loss even without the strings. It brings about the "recreation of the mind" with an exquisite wealth of pianistic exchange of ideas: in the first movement in the form of Vivaldi's concert form, in the Adagio as a canonical Siciliano, in the final movement as a radiant concert fugue. Franz Liszt Concerto pathetique was (and is) a kind of ›work in progress‹, whose appearance on the concert stage, which has been changing for about 150 years, could be well described with the currently fashionable terms palimpsest, overpainting, etc. It began in 1849 as a ›Grand Solo‹ for a piano competition at the Paris Conservatoire and was published two years later, with the addition of a slow section, as ›Großes Konzertsolo‹. From this, Liszt made the two-piano Concerto a few years later. One notices in this search for the appropriate form that Liszt, with the piece he had started as a side work, was sucked into his B minor sonata, which was being written at the same time, and did not want to fall short of its demands. One encounters not only thematic similarities, but also the highly romantic ambition of interlacing single-movement and multi-movement composition, of playing three interlinked parts with only two themes that are particularly versatile. However, the last Liszt version was not the last word in matters Concerto pathetique: Liszt students in particular - from Joachim Raff to Hans von Bülow - put their hands on the piece, changed the two-piano version or even reworked it into a concerto for (one) piano and orchestra. At least four such piano concerto versions were written, which, however, seem all the more legitimate since Liszt himself had considered and sketched something similar. Stefan Heucke wrote the last (for the time being) transformation in 2008, primarily with the intention of expanding the rather narrow double concerto repertoire of the Romantic era. He leaves the piano parts unchanged – apart from the interpolation of a hundred-bar, development-like, highly virtuosic, unmistakably contemporary cadence – but invents independent thematic and contrapuntal part-writing for the orchestra and uses it between the lyrical concertmaster solo and Mahlerian collapse with some deliberately anachronistic timbres. Rainer Peters |
program:
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING Allegro energico - Grandioso - Quasi fantasia - Andante sostenuto
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) [02] 06:42 p.m
Igor stravinsky (1882-1971) [05] con moto 06:38 total time: 61:52 GrauSchumacher Piano Duo |
Press:
01.06.2014 (Website) GrauSchumacher Duo: Bouquet for two pianosAndreas Grau and Götz Schumacher devote themselves to an exclusive genre of classical music: the duo for two pianos. That's why they occasionally allow something to be arranged or better: re-composed. For example by Franz Liszt. In terms of composition, Franz Liszt stretched his fingers far towards the twentieth century. In this respect, it is completely legitimate that the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, with the help of the composer Stefan Heucke, also brings Liszt into the 1061th century in terms of sound. Heucke has set the Concerto Pathétique for two pianos and orchestra and in doing so ties in with the sound of the great orchestra of the Romantic period. But the xylophone, the tonal treatment of the woodwinds, the use of percussion and brass, all this puts a XNUMXs dress on the romantic body – and that suits it extremely well. Martyn Brabbins and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin perform them just as sensitively as the pianists Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher. They interpret Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for Two Pianos BWV XNUMX just as sensitively: with the modern concert grand piano, the orchestra inspired by the spirit of Romanticism, and influenced by the findings of historical performance practice. Finally, an original work completes the bouquet: Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Pianos. Jazz flashes here, baroque polyphony sounds, spiced up with Stravinsky's irony - and the GrauSchumacher duo plays it with outstanding transparency and virtuosity. Ralf Doering
[…] The result is convincing across the board. […] In any case, the well-known piano duo plays it in a top-class manner on this CD, accompanied sonorous by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under the Brit Martyn Brabbins. The two pianists find a balance between the pathos suggested in the work's title and a structurally sober examination of the score. Matthew Corvin
Dialogue What do Liszt, Stravinsky and Bach have in common? Not much, one might think. But the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo has set out to prove the opposite. […] The piano parts of Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher bring Bach's piano language to bear in a wonderfully free-sounding way. […] The GrauSchumacher duo actually manages not only to loosen up Stravinsky's austerity, but also to present it as a breathing, constantly changing sound sculpture. Dynamically wonderfully aligned with each other, they stretch and accelerate tempi without ever losing the basic context. It's all musical and extremely attractive. […] Grau and Schumacher have the finesse to make it all sound effortless. They not only exhaust the themes and their continuations, but also audibly enjoy the piece! Tilman Urbach Music:
Reutlinger General ad How a piano duo transforms into a concerto Liszt's »Concerto pathétique« for two pianos has always tempted composers to turn it into a piano concerto with orchestra. They almost always moved one of the two piano parts to the orchestra. Not so with Stefan Heucke from Berlin in his version from 2008: he leaves both piano parts and adds an orchestral part. Isn't there more bombast piled on top of Liszt's bombastic piano layer? When listening to the version, which the piano duo Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher recorded with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the result seems conclusive. Liszt's exuberant movement pushes itself beyond the framework of the two pianos. And Heucke fulfills the will of a tonal language that strives overwhelmingly into the orchestral. The result does not sound overloaded with enormous opulence, but rather increased in its drama and depth. On the one hand, because Heucke also incorporates very modern effects into the orchestral colours: dry, percussive sounds, for example. On the other hand, because Grau and Schumacher don't let Liszt's emotionality get out of hand. Instead, they illuminate Liszt's cosmos of sound with a combination of inner sympathy and an organized overview. Rarely has one heard the class pianists sing on the keys like this - with touching clarity, beyond all sentimentality. It is precisely with this combination of inner warmth and structural clarity that Grau-Schumacher impresses in Bach's Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C major, BWV 1061. The middle movement unfolds as an intimate and cantabile dialogue between the individual vocal layers. In the framing movements, the pianists manage to create that impression of airy, moving energy on two grand pianos that is otherwise captivating in the sound of the harpsichord. In Stravinsky's "Concerto per due pianoforti soli" Grau-Schumacher reveal the sparkling irony that lies in this playful juggling with structural elements from the Baroque and Classical eras. And yet Stravinsky's music never degenerates into clownesque farce with them. But inside, something is rounded off that has something substantial to say behind the dissonantly flashing jokes. A sensitive core lurks beneath the scratchy outer skin. Three concerts, three worlds of sound - and as a connecting element the clarity and warmth of Grau-Schumacher's keyboard playing - that's convincing.
Mannheimer morning Sometimes you don't know what deserves more admiration here: the powerful rolling waves of sound of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Martyn Brabbins or the highly virtuosic fluency of the GrauSchumacher piano duo. In any case, on their CD with Franz Liszt's "Concerto pathetique“ for two pianos and orchestra, arranged by Stefan Heucke, between filigree poetry and orchestrally thunderous assertion, undertakes something aesthetically delicate. Full of glorious clarity, however, Bach's C major Concerto for two pianos (BWV 1061) and Stravinsky's "Concerto for two solo pianos“. Works that once again prove the sovereignty and technical perfection with which GrauSchumacher knows how to play. hub
24.02.2014 Piano duo virtuoso Two pianos and orchestra can sound pretty powerful, especially when a composer like Franz Liszt writes the two piano parts and then an orchestral part is invented. This is exactly what happened with the "Concerto pathétique": In 2008, the composer Stefan Heucke expanded the work for two pianos, which Liszt had already reworked several times, into a concert piece for piano duo and orchestra. With the first recording of this work, the piano duo Grau-Schumacher and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with conductor Martyn Brabbins open their unusual album "Concerti II" (the duo had recorded the pure piano version on the previous CD "Concerti I"). . Werner Fritsch
20.02.2014 online […] The precise interaction of the piano duo Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, subtly directed by Martyn Brabbins, benefits this highly complex dialogue between old and new, as does the lucid Concerto for Two Pianos in C major, BWV 1061 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo's interpretation style, which is almost abrupt at times and draws sharp contours, not only opens up unusual listening perspectives on the polyphonic architecture of Johann Sebastian Bach's music, but also on the montage-like structures of Igor Stravinsy's "Concerto per due pianoforti soli". This highly virtuosic, neo-classical work with its set-piece mounted motivic and figurative elements repeatedly casts tongue-in-cheek glances at tradition. With their new CD, Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher have remained true to their recipe for success of an exciting program dramaturgy. All three recorded works offer a special kind of listening experience. […] Michael Schmidt
Program alléchant pour ce disque consacré aux doubles concertos de trois géants. Le result est decevant mais le double concerto de Stravinsky sauve l'intérêt de ce disque. Le Concerto pathetique de Franz Liszt fut d'abord intitulé « Grand solo de concert » lorsqu'il fut écrit pour le concours du Conservatoire de Paris en 1850. Il sera augmenté d'une participation orchestrale et connaîtra sa version définitive pour deux pianos en 1856. Joachim Raff et Hans von Bülow, élèves de Liszt tenteront d'en faire une version pour un seul piano comme Liszt lui-même l'avait planifié et esquissé. Les pianistes Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher propose the first registration of the transcription of Stefan Heucke. Celui-ci a conservé les parties de piano mais propose a modern orchestration, aux sonorités anachroniques assumed sans parler de la cadence qui éclate complètement le langage tonal pour oser des dissonances et autres effets contemporains. Il faut tout de même avouer que ce concerto pathétique ne contient pas les pages les plus géniales de Liszt. La pièce est virtuoso mais on sombre du pathétique au pathos, avec a substance thematique peu inspired et systématique. Les inventions de Heucke font naître une oeuvre étrange semblant naviguer entre les styles et les époques sans réellement trouver son évidence. L'enchaînement avec le double concerto de Bach en do majeur ne fonctionne que très moyennement. L'interpretation souffre d'une sonorité trop ample et une réverbération excessive. On ne sait pas vraiment si on doit l'attributer à l'ingénieur du son ou à trop de pedalisation. L'oeuvre n'est pas suffisamment dessinée et architecturée.
17.01.2014 The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo has also made an excellent name for itself among piano duos thanks to its excellent, contrasting CD programs that are friendly to contemporary music. The "Concerti" CD spans the arc from Bach to Stravinsky - and beyond. The Bochum-based composer Stefan Heucke suddenly got involved in Franz Liszt's "Concerto pathétique". And that is a contemporary addition to Liszt's extremely romantic sound monster, when Heucke, shortly before the end, inserts a six-minute storm, towering up from furious clouds of triads, as a cadence. Otherwise he lets the orchestra – here the very precise Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Martyn Brabbins – exaggerate the piano colors, anachronistic to exalted. But always virtuosic, as befits a concert. GrauSchumacher have their hands full - in the usual top class. The first recording of the Heucke version is a discovery. Bach's double concerto in C major, on the other hand, finds its way to the ears in a provocatively unexperimental manner – GrauSchumacher cultivate a soft, beautiful sound far away from historicism. With Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Pianos alone, the key tip experts are again on the road as masters of extremes and mediators to the 20th century. Great. (ark)
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