Walter Braunfels Vol. 1
World premiere recordings, recorded at Watford Colosseum, 15-17 April 2013
Victor Sangiorgio (piano), Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola)
BBC Concert Orchestra, Johannes Wildner
Braunfels's style is big, Brahmsian and agreeable. The Concerto (1910) is fresh and lively, but the Schottische Phantasie (1932-33) is generally brooding.
Walter Braunfels Vol. 1
World premiere recordings, recorded at Watford Colosseum, 15-17 April 2013
Victor Sangiorgio (piano), Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola)
BBC Concert Orchestra, Johannes Wildner
Purchase product
Braunfels's style is big, Brahmsian and agreeable. The Concerto (1910) is fresh and lively, but the Schottische Phantasie (1932-33) is generally brooding.
About
German composer Walter Braunfels built a considerable reputation before the 1930s as composer, pianist and teacher. Since his death in 1954 his operas have been heard again, and Dutton Epoch now presents world premiere recordings of two remarkable concertos, for piano and viola. These are considerable discoveries: the Piano Concerto, Op.21, first performed in 1911, is notable for its sweeping cantilenas, vivid expression and orchestral colour. Victor Sangiorgio is authoritative in the demanding solo part. Over twenty years later came the Schottische Phantasie for Viola & Orchestra, Op.47, a large-scale viola concerto eloquently played by Sarah-Jane Bradley. The programme is completed by the Shakespeare-inspired miniature tone poem Ariels Gesang, Op.18.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
July 2014
Braunfels's style is big, Brahmsian and agreeable. The Concerto (1910) is fresh and lively, but the Schottische Phantasie (1932-33) is generally brooding.
May 2014
The present coupling...will delight readers attracted by expertly crafted late-Romantic fare, without dispelling the suspicion that Braunfels might have been a more interesting composer had he been prepared to admit a modicum of 'degeneracy'.