Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos
Ronald Brautigam (pleyel grand)
Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Brautigam uses a copy of a Pleyel piano of 1831 – just a year before the First Concerto was composed – and he skates over its keys with dazzling ease…he negotiates the cascades of notes with...
Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos
Ronald Brautigam (pleyel grand)
Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Purchase product
Brautigam uses a copy of a Pleyel piano of 1831 – just a year before the First Concerto was composed – and he skates over its keys with dazzling ease…he negotiates the cascades of notes with...
About
Ronald Brautigam has recorded more than 60 discs for BIS, including the complete solo keyboard music by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on the fortepiano. But his first releases on the label, in the mid-1990s, were Felix Mendelssohns concertante works for piano and orchestra on modern piano. When he now returns to these scores, it is on a copy of a Pleyel grand piano from 1830 the year before Mendelssohn composed his Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor. And the orchestra supporting him is the period band Die Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens, the same team that he has already collaborated with for an acclaimed 11-disc survey of Mozarts keyboard concertos. The historically informed accompaniments and the clarity of the solo instrument contribute to performances of a great charm and freshness, shedding a new light on these works. Composed between 1831 and 1838, they were all written primarily for Mendelssohns own use as a touring concert pianist, but soon entered the repertoire of many other pianists especially the G minor concerto, which was extremely popular in the composers own time.
Contents and tracklist
- Ronald Brautigam (piano)
- Kölner Akademie
- Michael Alexander Willens
- Recorded: July 2017
- Recording Venue: Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
- Ronald Brautigam (piano)
- Kölner Akademie
- Michael Alexander Willens
- Recorded: July 2016
- Recording Venue: Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
- Ronald Brautigam (piano)
- Kölner Akademie
- Michael Alexander Willens
- Recorded: July 2016
- Recording Venue: Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
- Ronald Brautigam (piano)
- Kölner Akademie
- Michael Alexander Willens
- Recorded: July 2017
- Recording Venue: Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
- Ronald Brautigam (piano)
- Kölner Akademie
- Michael Alexander Willens
- Recorded: July 2017
- Recording Venue: Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
Awards and reviews
March 2019
Brautigam uses a copy of a Pleyel piano of 1831 – just a year before the First Concerto was composed – and he skates over its keys with dazzling ease…he negotiates the cascades of notes with admirable fluency, and he’s well supported by Michael Alexander Willens and the Cologne Academy.
February 2019
Brautigam launches his disc with the rondo brilliant and for once the exuberant muscularity of the soloist’s opening phrases don’t sound unwieldy. The relative lightness of the McNulty instrument ensures that even when Brautigam really plays out, there’s no fear of him overwhelming the orchestra.
March 2019
Performing on a McNulty instrument after an 1830 Pleyel, Brautigam is on top form here. The First Piano Concerto marries power, velocity and a translucency that enables it to refresh and excite in equal measure. The orchestral discipline in the central Andante forms a bedrock on which Brautigam’s piano sings; the finale has both gossamer lightness and momentum.
March 2019
Mendelssohn keyboard concerti performed to perfection with a recording to match.
20th January 2019
Brautigam, playing a copy of an 1830 Pleyel piano, perfectly balances grace and brilliance, crisply supported by Willens and the Kölner Akademie.
Classical CD Review February 2019
The sound is clear with excellent balance between soloist and ensemble
