Weiss Moskau

Like Sebastian Bach and François Couperin, Sylvius Leopold Weiss came from and continued a musical tradition. His father was Johann Jakob Weiss, his brother was Johann Sigismund Weiss, and his son was Johann Adolph Faustinius Weiss. Also, like Bach and Couperin, Sylvius Leopold was the most famous member of his musical clan, and during his long and distinguished career he taught a number of students who would become exceptional lutenists, Adam Falckenhagen and Johann Kropfgans among them. Following demands created by his exceptional reputation, Weiss traveled extensively before he settled at the court of Augustus the Strong in 1728; he remained there for the rest of his life. Weiss and Bach certainly met on more than one occasion as the latter visited his son Wilhelm Friedemann and also had an interest in music-making at the Saxon court. As a performer, Weiss was considered the finest of his time and many believed that his ability as a lutenist rivaled that of Bach as an organist and Scarlatti as a harpsichordist. His Berlin colleague, Ernst Gottlieb Baron, mentioned to a “Weissian Method,” probably a reference to his astounding and masterful technique, not to mention his style. Hundreds of Weiss’s works survive, chief among them six-movement sonatas or partitas that follow the accepted blueprint for the genre, i.e., Allemande, Courante, Bouree, Sarabande, Minuet, and Gigue.

The Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio's highly anticipated BEETHOVEN: COMPLETE PIANO TRIOS (BRIDGE 9505A/C three CDs) is now available. The stellar New York City based trio (Yael Weiss, piano; Mark Kaplan, violin; Peter Stumpf, cello) offer deep, beautifully rendered interpretations of eight immortal masterworks.

The concept that led to The Oberlin Concertos was initially hatched in a conversation between pianist and educator Xak Bjerken and a former student, Oberlin Conservatory composition professor Jesse Jones. It was Jones who suggested writing a chamber concerto to be premiered by his friend and mentor, and it was Bjerken-a former longtime member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and a veteran soloist with the L.A. Philharmonic and other ensembles-who was immediately hooked. Their plan gave rise to another commission-for the chair of Oberlin's Composition Department, Grammy Award-winner Stephen Hartke-and then another, for fellow composition faculty member Elizabeth Ogonek. The resulting works were recorded in three sessions over a two-year span, with Bjerken joining forces with Oberlin's Contemporary Music Ensemble and conductor Timothy Weiss in the conservatory's Clonick Hall studio, in addition to presenting the world- premiere performance of each piece on campus.

This new studio recording contains three works for piano and orchestra that virtuoso pianist Orion Weiss and conductor Leon Botstein first performed in concert at the Bard Music Festival. Together, the three works span almost a century of musical Romanticism and are as different from one another as the generations they represent. In each piece, the virtuoso genre becomes a means by which the composer responds to a specific source of inspiration – in the first case (Korngold), a performer and family friend who had suffered a horrendous tragedy, in the second (Rimsky-Korsakov), a venerated old master, and in the third (Chopin) a melody from a beloved opera.

Although familiar with the Art of Fugue for much of my life, I did not set about learning it in its entirety until 2020. When Covid-19 put all concert life on hold, like my fellow musicians, I was left homebound with an ever increasing calendar of cancellations; my first Art of Fugue recital was the one I mourned the most. I took advantage of the time of seclusion to immerse myself in the work. Day after day, I turned to it for comfort, for inspiration and for connection in an unsure world. To be in constant awe at Bach’s limitless imagination and skill while challenging myself to hear - really hear - all that was going on, elevated my mood and gave me great joy. It was an act of devotion. I cherish the memory of it.

'Weiss used the word “presentiment“ in his notes and it is an excellent one for the mood his playing captures. The great pity is that we now have wait for the next instalment to see where Weiss’ imagination takes us next on the downward curve.’