Review: MusicWebInternational
Ludwig van Beethoven
1. Fantasia Op.77 (1809)
Franz Schubert arr. Franz Liszt
2. Das Sterbeglƶcklein (1846)
Pierre J. Zimmerman
3. Varitions sur une Romance favorite de Blangini Op.7 (1817)
Ćlie Miriam Delaborde
4. Ćtude d’apres une petite Valse de V. Dolmetsch (1889)
Wim Statius Muller
5. Nostalgie-Waltz Op.2 No.22
Ernest Walker
6. Prelude for the left hand alone Op.47 (1931)
Igor Stravinsky
7. Fragment (1920)
8. Piano-Rag-Music (1919)
Stefan Wolpe
9. Rag-Caprice (1927)
Nicolai Medtner
10. Primavera Op.39 No. 3 (1923)
Felix Guerrero
11. Suite havanaise
Heitor Villa-Lobos
12. The broken little music-box (1931)
Ernesto Lecuona
13. Siempre esta en mi corazon
14. Mazurka glissando
RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2015
CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 749
EAN: 5709499749005
Husum CD 2014 Ā©
Beethoven is not a composer whom one might expect to find in a programme of piano rarities. But his Fantasia op.77 is a little-known work which is hardly ever played.
It was composed in 1809, the year after the remarkable concert in Vienna which contained four hours of music including the first performances of two symphonies and the fourth piano concerto.
Beethovenās pupil Czerny wrote of Beethovenās superb ability as an improvisor, and the Fantasia has some features of a written-out improvisation. Its structure is almost chaotic at times, with elements such as virtuosic scales, pauses, short slow sections and sudden changes of key. The piece begins with scales in G minor, but that key is soon abandoned. The most organised passage is a set of variations on a very simple theme which begins halfway through the piece (5:00). This remains in B major except for one brief excursion into C after another cadenza with scale passages.
Joseph Moogās performance has all the variety and technical command which the piece needs.
