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Special offer. Beethoven: The Complete Piano Variations & Bagatelles

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)

Beethoven: The Complete Piano Variations & Bagatelles
Brautigam’s fortepiano survey is magnificent, comprising four full discs of variations (including Eroica and Diabelli), the complete bagatelles, rondos and other miscellaneous pieces. Disc 1...

Special offer. Beethoven: The Complete Piano Variations & Bagatelles

Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)

Purchase product

6 SACDs

Hybrid Multi-channel

Original price $64.50 Reduced price $51.60

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Brautigam’s fortepiano survey is magnificent, comprising four full discs of variations (including Eroica and Diabelli), the complete bagatelles, rondos and other miscellaneous pieces. Disc 1...

About

Between 2003 and 2015, Ronald Brautigam recorded all of Beethoven’s music for solo piano – a huge undertaking resulting in a grand total of 15 highly acclaimed albums. Choosing to perform the works on the fortepiano, Brautigam began with a sonata cycle which caused one reviewer to talk of a challenge to ‘the very notion of playing this music on modern instruments, a stylistic paradigm shift.’ In 2010, after nine albums of sonatas, he went on to record the composer’s variations, bagatelles and other piano pieces – a staggering array of works ranging from a Bagatelle lasting 11 seconds to the monumental Diabelli Variations, and from a charming Rondo in C major composed by a 13-year old Beethoven, to what is often referred to as the composer's ‘Last Musical Thought’, an Andante maestoso dated 1826. Brautigam’s sonata recordings were released in a box set in 2014, and they are now followed by this 6-album set of the remaining works for solo piano, in the original hybrid format, and with full documentation in the form of the original booklets. Composed over the course of more than 40 years, the music is performed on three different instruments, all by the master builder Paul McNulty, demonstrating the rapid development that the fortepiano underwent during Beethoven’s lifetime.

Contents and tracklist

No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Andante grazioso, quasi allegretto
Track length3:29
No. 2 in C Major, Scherzo. Allegro
Track length2:44
No. 3 in F Major, Allegretto
Track length2:13
No. 4 in A Major, Andante
Track length2:41
No. 5 in C Major, Allegro, ma non troppo
Track length2:50
No. 6 in D Major, Allegretto, quasi andante
Track length3:02
No. 7 in A-Flat Major, Presto
Track length2:03
No. 1 in G Minor, Allegretto
Track length2:18
No. 2 in C Major, Andante con moto
Track length1:02
No. 3 in D Major, à l’Allemande
Track length1:37
No. 4 in A Major, Andante cantabile
Track length1:28
No. 5 in C Minor, Risoluto
Track length1:01
No. 6 in G Major, Andante - Allegretto
Track length1:35
No. 7 in C Major, Allegro, ma non troppo
Track length0:53
No. 8 in C Major, Moderato cantabile
Track length1:15
No. 9 in A Minor, Vivace moderato
Track length0:37
No. 10 in A Major, Allegramente
Track length0:12
No. 11 in B-Flat Major, Andante, ma non troppo
Track length1:25
Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59 "Für Elise" (I)
Track length2:40
No. 1 in G Major, Andante con moto
Track length2:26
No. 2 in G Major, Allegro
Track length2:35
No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Andante
Track length1:50
No. 4 in B Major, Presto
Track length3:39
No. 5 in G Major, Quasi allegretto
Track length2:00
No. 6 in E-Flat Major, Presto - Andante amabile e con moto - Tempo I
Track length3:16
Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59 "Für Elise" (II)
Track length3:41
Theme
Track length1:41
Var. 1
Track length1:32
Var. 2
Track length1:02
Var. 3
Track length1:13
Var. 4
Track length1:17
Var. 5
Track length1:54
Var. 6 - Coda
Track length4:44
Theme
Track length0:57
Var. 1
Track length0:43
Var. 2
Track length0:43
Var. 3
Track length0:47
Var. 4
Track length0:48
Var. 5
Track length1:11
Var. 6
Track length0:50
Var. 7
Track length1:54
Theme
Track length0:40
Var. 1
Track length0:35
Var. 2
Track length0:34
Var. 3
Track length0:33
Var. 4
Track length0:35
Var. 5
Track length1:22
Theme
Track length0:39
Var. 1
Track length0:37
Var. 2
Track length0:35
Var. 3
Track length0:44
Var. 4
Track length0:43
Var. 5
Track length0:37
Var. 6
Track length1:59
No. 1 in C Major
Track length4:33
No. 2 in C Major
Track length2:13
Theme. Vivace
Track length0:56
Var. 1, Alla marcia, maestoso
Track length1:42
Var. 2, Poco allegro
Track length0:48
Var. 3, L'istesso tempo
Track length1:10
Var. 4, Un poco più vivace
Track length0:59
Var. 5, Allegro vivace
Track length0:53
Var. 6, Allegro ma non troppo e serioso
Track length1:43
Var. 7, Un poco più allegro
Track length1:00
Var. 8, Poco vivace
Track length1:09
Var. 9, Allegro pesante e risoluto
Track length1:58
Var. 10, Presto
Track length0:36
Var. 11, Allegretto
Track length0:52
Var. 12, Un poco più mosso
Track length0:56
Var. 13, Vivace
Track length0:56
Var. 14, Grave e maestoso
Track length3:09
Var. 15, Presto scherzando
Track length0:32
Var. 16, Allegro
Track length0:53
Var. 17, Allegro
Track length0:57
Var. 18, Poco moderato
Track length1:26
Var. 19, Presto
Track length0:51
Var. 20, Andante
Track length2:05
Var. 21, Allegro con brio
Track length1:13
Var. 22, Allegro molto
Track length0:39
Var. 23, Allegro assai
Track length0:56
Var. 24, Fughetta - Andante
Track length2:19
Var. 25, Allegro
Track length0:41
Var. 26, Piacevole
Track length1:18
Var. 27, Vivace
Track length0:58
Var. 28, Allegro
Track length0:52
Var. 29, Adagio ma non troppo
Track length0:56
Var. 30, Andante, sempre cantabile
Track length1:56
Var. 31, Largo, molto espressivo
Track length4:14
Var. 32, Fuga - Allegro
Track length3:00
Var. 33, Tempo di menuetto, moderato
Track length3:57
No. 1, Air ecossais in G Major "The Cottage Maid"
Track length2:30
No. 2, Air ecossais in C Minor "Of Noble Stock Was Shinkin"
Track length2:27
No. 3, Air autrichien in C Major "A Schüsserl und a Reindl"
Track length5:34
No. 4, Air ecossais in E-Flat Major "The Last Rose of Summer"
Track length3:06
No. 5, Air ecossais in E-Flat Major "Chiling O'Guiry"
Track length2:08
No. 6, Air ecossais in D Major "Paddy Whack"
Track length3:02

Awards and reviews

January 2020

Brautigam’s fortepiano survey is magnificent, comprising four full discs of variations (including Eroica and Diabelli), the complete bagatelles, rondos and other miscellaneous pieces. Disc 1 begins with a charming rendition of the Op 33 set followed by a tranche of pieces dating mainly from the 1790s; the late sets Opp 119 and 126 are delivered with a sense of simplicity that can only come from depth of knowledge. The recording, configured for 5.0 stereo, is exemplary.
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