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Following his highly acclaimed Beethoven ‘Moonlight’, ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Waldstein’ Sonatas release, Hyperion’s Gramophone-award-winning artist Steven Osborne turns his talents to Beethoven’s complete Bagatelles. Though the composer himself referred to these thirty short piano works, which he penned throughout his life, as ‘trifles’, these are nonetheless trifles from the mind of a genius. In this polished album, Osborne lends his remarkable artistry to everything from the Six Bagatelles of Op 126, which at times occupy the same rarefied spiritual world as the late quartets and were the very last works Beethoven ever wrote for the piano, to the composer’s most famous stand-alone piano piece, the mysterious little A minor Bagatelle known to all the world as ‘Für Elise’. “[Beethoven's] Leipzig publisher complained that they were such insignificant trifles no one would believe they were by Beethoven: not only slight but on the whole easy too. The joy of having a player of Steven Osborne's spare, rhythmically incisive brilliance shows the idiocy of the publisher's words.” The Observer, 16th April 2012 “vigorously and sparklingly played by Steven Osborne, who must bring his pianistic intelligence to bear on elementary and virtuosic performance levels alike.” Sunday Times, 22nd April 2012 “the range is enormous...Osborne encompasses this transition in masterly fashion. This disc follows on from his one of Beethoven sonatas, and it ignites a similar joy in the way that he conveys ideas so lucidly and with such subtle shades of tone, distilling the essence of each miniature with potency and freshness.” The Telegraph, 19th April 2012 ***** “It's a part of [Osborne's] personal excursion to seek the individual potency of each Bagatelle...Osborne has delved deep to extract so much from cameos that pack emotional enormity within small spaces.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012 “The air of faux naivete Osborne brings to these trifles is particualrly persuasive, with understatement providing the perfect setting and foil for Beethoven's droll humour...Whatever preconceptions you may bring to these pieces, the crystal clarity of Osborne's exquisitely polished pianism is an unalloyed joy to the ear...Osborne's new recording will take its place without apology in any company.” International Record Review, June 2012 “His playing is immaculately polished, but here he misses something of the arresting brusqueness, heartfelt lyricism, madcap zaniness, and tender melancholy...Osborne's most expressive playing comes in the reflective moments of the Op. 126 Bagatelles.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *** “Despite playing on a modern grand, Osborne’s attack, tone and phrasing suggest an awareness of period performance practice. Climaxes are powerfully telling, yet always remain within “classical” parameters...[Osborne is] captivating, with a gentle touch that produces an astonishing inwardness.” MusicWeb International, July 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Beethoven: The Bagatelles (complete)
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| |  | Beethoven - Complete Works for Solo Piano Volume 10Complete Bagatelles
Beethoven: | Bagatelles (7), Op. 33 Allegretto in C minor Hess 69 Bagatelle in C major, Hess 73 Bagatelle in E flat major, Hess 74 Allegretto in C minor,WoO 53 Andante in C major Bagatelle in C major, WoO 54, 'Lustig-Traurig' Bagatelle in C major, WoO56 Bagatelle in C minor, WoO52 Bagatelles (11), Op. 119 Piano Pieces (4), WoO 59-61a Bagatelle in C major, Hess 57 Bagatelles (6), Op. 126 |
On this new disc, Ronald Brautigam now embarks on the second leg of his traversal of Beethoven’s complete music for solo piano. In this volume he gives us the complete Bagatelles, and includes not only the three sets published during Beethoven’s life time, but also thirteen further pieces composed throughout Beethoven’s career, between 1795 and 1825. Among Beethoven’s Bagatelles – whether official or unofficial ones – are pieces that may originally have been intended as movements of piano sonatas, as well as pieces of an extreme brevity, such as the 11 seconds long Allegramente, No. 10 of Elf Neue Bagatellen, Op.119. Previous volumes in this cycle have been highly praised by reviewers around the world: performances of the Waldstein and Appassionata Sonatas (BISSACD1573) which were described by Gramophone as ‘stunning … technically breathtaking, stylistically astute, emotionally intense and musically alive in every moment’ “Brautigam explores the music with acuity and if, predictably, the fast dramatic Bagatelles bring out the best in him, his nurturing of the wayward C major WoO56 turns a miniature into something surprisingly big...there's far more than unmatched completeness going to Brautigam's new set.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 **** “Brautigam plays a copy of a c.1805 Walter & Sohn fortepiano for the 15 works composed between 1795 and 1804, and a copy of a c.1819 Conrad Graf for the remainder. Only the sharpest of ears will be able to tell the difference in a blind hearing, but the Dutch pianist's total control of both is quite remarkable to the extent that the character and colour of other well-known 'complete' cycles on modern instruments seem pallid by comparison.” Classic FM Magazine, October 2011 ***** “this is a terrific addition to Brautigam's cycle and is recommended to anyone who thinks fortepianos are the poor relations of the modern Steinway. I defy you not to be won over.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Beethoven: Bagatelles And Dances, Vol. 1
“The charming assortment of dances and Bagatelles on this disc puts the more famous work into a fine musical perspective” Classics Today | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Magazine
