Mozart Ronald Brautigam

This is the ninth installment in Ronald Brautigam's series of the complete piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As on previous discs, Brautigam whose 'muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of Mozartian discourse' (BBC Music Magazine) is supported by Die Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens.

This is the ninth installment in Ronald Brautigam's series of the complete piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As on previous discs, Brautigam whose 'muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of Mozartian discourse' (BBC Music Magazine) is supported by Die Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens. The opening work on this installment is the C major concerto, K 415, which was first performed on 23rd March 1783 in the presence of Emperor Joseph II. K 415 was composed in conjunction with the Concerto No. 11 in F major, K 413, which in contrast is a more intimate creation, especially in its Larghetto middle movement, in which Mozart achieves some of his most memorable writing, with the various textures of the orchestra providing a cushion of sound for a delicious cantabile aria for the piano a model that was to become almost a trademark of his later concerto slow movements. The disc closes with Concerto No. 8 in C major, K 246, composed some six years earlier. Mozart wrote it for Countess Antonia Lützow, one of his father's pupils, and in terms of technical difficulty, it is among the least demanding of his piano concertos which nevertheless didn't stop Mozart from performing it himself on several occasions.

This is the ninth installment in Ronald Brautigam's series of the complete piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As on previous discs, Brautigam whose 'muscular yet sensitively nuanced command of Mozartian discourse' (BBC Music Magazine) is supported by Die Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens. The opening work on this installment is the C major concerto, K 415, which was first performed on 23rd March 1783 in the presence of Emperor Joseph II. K 415 was composed in conjunction with the Concerto No. 11 in F major, K 413, which in contrast is a more intimate creation, especially in its Larghetto middle movement, in which Mozart achieves some of his most memorable writing, with the various textures of the orchestra providing a cushion of sound for a delicious cantabile aria for the piano a model that was to become almost a trademark of his later concerto slow movements.

As one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. His earliest composition, from 1782, was a set of piano variations and he continued to compose for solo piano until the last years of his life. His interest in the concerto form diminished as his deafness forced him to retire from performing. Nonetheless, with his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, Beethoven not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which remained a reference point well into the beginning of the twentieth.

To mark the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon are releasing the most authoritative, complete and scholarly box set ever devoted to the work of a single composer. The 200CD Complete Edition was created in partnership with the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation and Mozart expert Professor Cliff Eisen of King’s College London, and will be released worldwide on 28 October 2016.

Final disc in Ronald Brautigam's traversal of Mozart's piano concertos. Throughout the ten previous discs in their series of Mozart's complete piano concertos, Ronald Brautigam and Die Kölner Akademie have offered up fresh, sometimes bracing readings of these perennial favourites. 'An ideal mixture of clarity and stylish effervescence' (International Record Review), 'as near as dammit what Mozart's audiences would have heard' (Classic FM Magazine) and 'a completely new, crisp 'Mozart-feel' for the 21st century' (Stereoplay) are just some of the responses from the international music press.

Die Kölner Akademie and Michael Willens have previously recorded Mozart’s complete piano concertos with Ronald Brautigam, earning praise for their fresh and colourful contributions to the series. The team now releases the first of four projected disc with further Mozart scores, beginning with two of the composer’s best-loved serenades. Serenades were a characteristic feature of Salzburg musical life: opening with a march and continuing with as many as eight or nine separate movements on an orchestral scale, such works will have been ringing in Mozart’s ears from childhood.

Die Kölner Akademie and Michael Willens have previously recorded Mozart’s complete piano concertos with Ronald Brautigam, earning praise for their fresh and colourful contributions to the series. The team now releases the first of four projected disc with further Mozart scores, beginning with two of the composer’s best-loved serenades. Serenades were a characteristic feature of Salzburg musical life: opening with a march and continuing with as many as eight or nine separate movements on an orchestral scale, such works will have been ringing in Mozart’s ears from childhood.

Following their 11-album cycle of Mozarts piano concertos recorded with Ronald Brautigam, Die Kolner Akademie and Michael Alexander Willens in 2017 released an album with two of Mozarts best-loved serenades: the Posthorn Serenade and Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The result was warmly received, for instance in the French magazine Classica where it was described as a truly attractive disc to chase away the gloom and on MusicWeb-International.com: Die Kolner Akademie demonstrate once again that they are amongst the best groups in the world of period performance.