Ronald Brautigam - David Hurwitz Review
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A1 ClassicsToday - Ronald Brautigam - David Hurwitz Review This disc is a gem, yet it's also one of those releases that you might overlook in the deluge of new, and frequently marginal, titles each month. But that would be a mistake, and if you enjoy keyboard music of the classical period, from C.P.E. Bach to Mozart and Haydn, then you will certainly want to hear this recital. Joseph Martin Kraus (a.k.a. "the Swedish Mozart), like his illustrious colleague, had an almost exactly contemporaneous and equally short life. He was born in 1756 and died in 1792. His music was much admired by his contemporaries, including Haydn, both for its formal mastery and progressive tendencies, both of which are very much in evidence in the two major works here, the Piano Sonatas in E major and E-flat major. Composed in the late 1780s, these sonatas are large-scale pieces as advanced as anything that Haydn and Mozart were turning out at the time. The E major work lasts nearly half an hour, and in its size alone it anticipates the large early sonatas of Beethoven. Both pieces have three movements, one of which is a big theme and variations (the finale in the E major sonata, the middle movement in the E-flat piece). Ronald Brautigam plays this music with uncommon ebullience and enthusiasm, in particular characterizing these lengthy variation sets with unfailing intelligence and imagination. This, combined with the bright, sweet timbre of his fortepiano, gives the music the same immediate appeal that typifies his Haydn piano music cycle. The other pieces are less important but nevertheless exude charm and personality. Both the Rondo in F major and the Scherzo con Variazioni are relatively substantial single movements, and the Swedish Dance will pique the interest of folk-music enthusiasts--its principal tune sounds remarkably like a sort of simplified Haydn rondo. The other two pieces, Zwey Neue Kuriose Menuetten and the Larghetto, are both tiny chips from the master's workbench. This is one of the most purely delightful discs of classical keyboard music to come along in quite a while, a discovery whose musical substance far exceeds its curiosity value. [7/26/2006] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com MusicWeb Review - Fortepiano w/ Ronald Brautigam Joseph Martin KRAUS (1756-1792) Complete Piano Music Sonata in E major (VB 196) (ca 1787/88) [26:03] Sonata in E flat major (VB 195) (1785) [22:25] Rondo in F major (VB 191) [7:17] Scherzo con variazioni (VB 193) [9:01] Swedish Dance (VB 192) [3:25] Zwey neue Kuriose Menuetten für Clavier (VB 190) [1:51] Larghetto (VB 194) [0:39] Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano) rec. August 2003, Őstrĺker Church, Sweden. DDD BIS-CD-1319 [72:06] I have recently spent some enjoyable time with Brautigam’s fortepiano recordings of Mozart’s solo complete piano music. I have now been delighted to see that these performances are played on another instrument by Paul McNulty, this time based on an early 1800s example by Walther & Sohn. The sound is a little brighter than the instrument used for the Mozart, slightly more silvery, but with an equally attractive colour and depth. Listeners who may have been put off by creaky old recordings of fortepianos in the past will be reassured to hear such beautifully made and tuned modern reproductions. These are the sounds of the past brought into the present as richly and accurately as those which issue so beguilingly from period music boxes, unchanged in many generations. Joseph Kraus is a name which to me stands for the highest quality in both imagination and craftsmanship. This collection of his surviving piano music is quite up to the expected standard. Kraus has been describes as ‘the Swedish Mozart’, and listening superficially one can hear what is meant by such a glib comparison. Lovers of Mozart will certainly find the works on this disc to their taste, but they will also find themselves asking the question: ‘what is it that makes Kraus different?’ Detailed analysis no doubt reveals numerous variations between the two composer’s fingerprints when it comes to their piano writing. Mozart was an opera composer, and so many of his melodies could so easily become arias. Kraus has something more in common with Haydn and C.P.E. Bach, with often less outspokenly lyrical themes, occasionally a more quirky approach to tonalities, major-minor relationships, cadence formation, moments of counterpoint and variety in his use of the left hand. In the end, you find yourself asking ‘what would Mozart have done?’ and almost invariably coming up with something tangibly different to Kraus – making Kraus Kraus, and not merely a pale imitation of Mozart. Taking the Scherzo con variazioni as an introduction we get all of the expected virtuoso fireworks which might have appeared in an improvisation over such a theme. There are witty pauses and flights in unexpected directions, conversations between left and right hands, expressiveness in the minor key and plenty of idiosyncratic piano writing; a description of which could easily apply to a far later composer – but still existing within the strictures of the classical idiom. The same is true of the Rondo in F, which gives more of a sense of the relationship and influence of C.P.E. Bach, while at the same time being a showpiece for Kraus as a virtuoso communicator – keeping the crowds happy with a grin and a wink from behind his keyboard. The two Sonatas are works of substance and great intrinsic interest. The CD opens with the slightly later Sonata in E which stakes its claim to be at the top of the heap of late 18th century keyboard sonatas in terms if its intricacy and technical intensity. Just taking the first minute or so of the second Adagio movement the mind is sent on a journey which is hard to grapple with on first hearing. A deceptive, simple opening theme is almost immediately challenged by rising figures, followed with dissonances and resolutions which seem to pop out of nowhere. 30 seconds in and the opening theme is already being subjected to Brahmsian minor key torture in the lower register, answered in the higher, and tailing off with a plangent descent which could end anywhere, and indeed introduces a hefty remoteness of key which has the brain grasping for straws of familiarity – immediately granted with further variations and diversions on and around the opening theme (in the new key). There is plenty of advanced musical thinking going on here, reaching deeply into Beethovenesque territory. The marginally earlier Sonata in E-flat posses an innocence and openness of character, characterised by largely two-part piano writing and much elegance and lyricism. The central Andante con variazioni has the most adventurous and romantic character of the three movements, reminding me a little of Chopin’s variations on Rossini. It almost goes without saying that Brautigam revels in the effectiveness of this music on such a marvellous instrument. His effortless technique brings out all of the charm and, where necessary, the Sturm und Drang passion to Kraus’s sometimes remarkably adventurous piano writing. The recording is placed in a Church acoustic with a generous reverberation. This helps the atmosphere, without detracting from the all-important detail in this music. I congratulate Bis’s engineer Ingo Petry on the sound of this recording: one has the feeling one is being given a one-to-one private recital, seated a comfortable distance from the piano, but still able to see every bead of sweat on the player’s forehead. I find myself increasingly drawn to the fortepiano sound, and be warned - modern instruments can end up sounding quite flat and dull by comparison. Dominy Clements AllMusic Review by Uncle Dave Lewis - Brautigam - no * rating given Joseph Martin Kraus, the German-born Swedish composer who was an almost exact contemporary of Mozart, is primarily known as a late classical symphonist of extraordinary importance, and heretofore this is where recording of his output has been concentrated. On Bis' Joseph Martin Kraus: The Complete Piano Music, pianist Ronald Brautigam comes to terms with the slim amount of keyboard music that belongs to Kraus, a cycle previously addressed on Naxos by pianist Jacques Després on a modern instrument. On the Bis, Brautigam uses a reproduced Walther & Sohn fortepiano built by Paul McNulty, an 1802 instrument that has a sound almost indistinguishable from that of a modern piano, except for its more limited range and shorter decay time. This seems to suit Kraus' keyboard music, which is rich in ideas but spindly in texture, a bit better than a modern instrument. Likewise, Després interpretations of Kraus' music sound read through at times and betray a sense of less than complete familiarity. This is not a challenge for Brautigam, who clearly knows, and loves, these willful and eccentric pieces of Kraus. The main keyboard works of Kraus are his two piano sonatas, in E and E flat, respectively, which are gigantic in size in the context of the 1780s when they first appeared, and are equal to some of Beethoven's sonatas in terms of ambition and emotional intensity, although are still longer than most of them. Brautigam emphasizes speed in this music, which is a good thing because that is what one needs to make the hair-raising harmonic content of it work. Després' interpretations are clunkier and halting, particularly in the Scherzo con Variazioni, which takes him almost four minutes more to play than Brautigam. With all of the speed in this music, and the sound of this instrument, one might be well-advised to take Joseph Martin Kraus: The Complete Piano Music in at least three doses as after awhile it may seem like it's all going past in a blur.