Matthias Kirschnereit – Beethoven: Unknown Solo Piano Works (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Matthias Kirschnereit – Beethoven: Unknown Solo Piano Works (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:50 minutes | 1006 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Berlin Classics

The Unknown Beethoven – is there such a thing?

The pianist Matthias Kirschnereit has therefore given himself something of a challenge for his new album by researching and recording the small but nevertheless brilliant jewels of Beethoven’s piano repertoire. “On this album it is my aim to bring to life those works by Beethoven that are seldom in the limelight and to let them sparkle anew. They include pieces that are not going to set the world on fire. I am no archaeologist who hunts around in attics, libraries or archives in search of works yet to be published. Everything he ever wrote has already been published. So I set about compiling a list – and I was utterly amazed,” explains Matthias Kirschnereit.

The album offers an overview of all the important genres in Beethoven’s piano oeuvre, such as sonatas, sonatinas, variations and dances, as well as a summary of the great man’s compositional development. Starting with his musical beginnings in the Rondo in C major WoO 48, which he wrote at the age of just 12 or 13, through to his final musical aphorisms such as the Piano Piece in G minor WoO 61a of 1825: a score comprising a mere 13 bars that expresses his deep sorrow at what must surely have been the greatest loss of his life, his hearing. For Matthias Kirschnereit, to interpret a sense of empathy for the composer’s emotions, or to lend a psychological interpretation of music is one of the most exciting tasks for a performer. “It is always a magical moment when the work ‘speaks to you’!”

In the case of one work in particular, Matthias Kirschnereit found it especially exciting to research the emotional background: the Prelude in F minor, probably composed around 1803. When one hears the work for the first time, it is difficult to place it. Its stylistic proximity to the preludes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is stark and at first hearing it does not really sound like Beethoven at all. Yet on closer inspection the depth and pain that are clearly evident are surely proof that only Beethoven could have composed this work. “For me it is like a dialogue between Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach by candlelight; a dialogue full of sorrow, loneliness and melancholy,” declares Kirschnereit of this deeply moving work. It is easy to imagine the work being composed at night and how it must have felt to Beethoven like an intimate conversation with the other patriarch of music, Johann Sebastian Bach.

Snapshots from Beethoven’s life are intertwined throughout the entire album, and the works, some of them very short, almost seem like excerpts or single lines from a diary. Beethoven’s life was hugely influenced by emotions and setbacks, and these are clearly reflected in some of the works on the album. Yet the album is not solely made up of brooding, sad pieces. Enjoyable, day-to-day moments are also portrayed in musical miniatures, thereby giving a very wide-ranging, diverse overview of this composer, born 250 years ago.

Tracklist:
1-01. Matthias Kirschnereit – Polonaise in C Major, Op. 89 (06:14)
1-02. Matthias Kirschnereit – Allegretto in C Minor, WoO 53 (04:00)
1-03. Matthias Kirschnereit – Two Piano Pieces, WoO 54: “Lustig & Traurig” (02:08)
1-04. Matthias Kirschnereit – Rondo in C Major, WoO 48 (02:26)
1-05. Matthias Kirschnereit – Bagatelle in C Minor, WoO 52 (04:02)
1-06. Matthias Kirschnereit – Prelude in F Minor, WoO 55 (04:02)
1-07. Matthias Kirschnereit – Sonata in F Minor, WoO 47: I. Larghetto maestoso (03:55)
1-08. Matthias Kirschnereit – Sonata in F Minor, WoO 47: II. Andante (07:00)
1-09. Matthias Kirschnereit – Sonata in F Minor, WoO 47: III. Presto (03:31)
1-10. Matthias Kirschnereit – 7 Ländler in D Major, WoO 11 (04:08)
1-11. Matthias Kirschnereit – Piano Piece for Piringer in B Minor, WoO 61 (02:38)
1-12. Matthias Kirschnereit – Piano Piece in B-Flat Major, WoO 60 (01:13)
1-13. Matthias Kirschnereit – Ecossaises in E-Flat Major, WoO 83 (02:17)
1-14. Matthias Kirschnereit – Minuet in E-Flat Major, WoO 82 (03:38)
1-15. Matthias Kirschnereit – Sonatina in F Major, Kinsky Halm Anh.5 No. 2: I. Allegro assai (02:08)
1-16. Matthias Kirschnereit – Sonatina in F Major, Kinsky Halm Anh.5 No. 2: II. Rondo. Allegro (02:22)
1-17. Matthias Kirschnereit – 6 Variations in F Major, Op. 34 (13:43)
1-18. Matthias Kirschnereit – Waltz in E-Flat Major, WoO 84 (01:51)
1-19. Matthias Kirschnereit – Anh.: Andante in C Major (01:19)
1-20. Matthias Kirschnereit – Piano Piece in G Minor, WoO 61a (00:59)

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