New Arrivals/Restock

Title: Cramer: 10 Piano Sonatas
Artist: Simone El Oufir Pierini
Label: Brilliant Classics
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 5028421964621
Genre: Classical Artists
Release Date: 2025-02-07
Number of Discs: 3

The most comprehensive set on record of the sonatas by a pivotal figure in the English Classical piano school, including several first recordings. Johann Baptiste Cramer (1771-1858) was identified by the influential pedagogue Edward Dannreuther as 'one of the fathers of the church of pianoforte playing'. Born in Germany, he moved as a child to London with his family - his father Wilhelm was a violinist and conductor - and took lessons with a notable emigre of a previous generation, Muzio Clementi. Cramer came to follow in his teacher's footsteps, as both a pianist and a publisher. At one stage, his books of studies were scarcely less popular than the examples of Carl Czerny. He spent a good deal of time on the Continent, including in Vienna, where he won the friendship and admiration of Beethoven. In turn, Cramer became the English publisher of the composer's Fifth Piano Concerto, and was probably responsible for it's lasting nickname as the 'Emperor'. Cramer's own music is scantily represented on record by a few albums of studies, a concerto here and a sonata there. But as Simone Pierini demonstrates, Cramer's sonatas exhibit impressive variety, chronicling both his development as a composer and the technical evolution of the piano in the late-Classical and early-Romantic eras. He composed as many as 200 sonatas between 1790 and 1830, and Pierini presents a representative selection. They belong to the world of Clementi and Dussek but also Beethoven and Chopin in their elegant minuets, their minor-mode expressions of pathos and their virtuosic flourishes written to show off the skill but also the musicianship of any executant. Anyone with an interest in early-Romantic piano music will find Cramer's sonatas a delightful discovery. No stranger to the Brilliant Classics catalogue, Simone Pierini plays them on three fortepianos of the period, by Conrad Graf, Joseph Hasselman and Matthias Muller. He also contributes a full and illuminating booklet essay on Cramer's life and work. '[Pierini] plays with tremendous energy and conviction... A major addition to the catalogue.' Fanfare (de Montgeroult, 96247) 'His playing offers crisp clarity of texture and ornament... this is an interesting composer well worth adding to the fellowship of clavecinistes.' Gramophone (Le Bret, 96930).

Tracks:
1.1 Sonata in B flat Op. 50 M.2.091~I. Allegro con spirito
1.2 Sonata in B flat Op. 50 M.2.091~II. Rondo. Allegro moderato con espressione
1.3 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 1~I. Moderato con espressione
1.4 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 1~II. Choral. Grave e sostenuto
1.5 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 1~III. Rondo. Moderato assai
1.6 Sonata in D Op. 25 No. 2~I. Allegro spiritoso
1.7 Sonata in D Op. 25 No. 2~II. Andantino con moto
1.8 Sonata in D Op. 25 No. 2~III. Rondo quasi Presto
1.9 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 3~I. Moderato con espressione
1.10 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 3~II. Allegretto non troppo
1.11 Sonata in E flat Op. 25 No. 3~III. Rondo an Carillon
2.1 Sonata in D Op. 20~I. Largo assai (attacca)
2.2 Sonata in D Op. 20~II. Allegro quasi Presto
2.3 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. (Thema. Moderato)
2.4 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 1
2.5 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 2
2.6 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 3
2.7 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 4
2.8 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 5
2.9 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 6
2.10 Sonata in D Op. 20~III. Aria con Variazioni. Variation 7
2.11 Sonata in A flat Op. 23 No. 1~I. Allegro non molto
2.12 Sonata in A flat Op. 23 No. 1~II. Adagio (attacca)
2.13 Sonata in A flat Op. 23 No. 1~III. Rondo. Allegretto
2.14 Sonata in C Op. 23, No. 2~I. Largo assai
2.15 Sonata in C Op. 23, No. 2~II. Allegro agitato
2.16 Sonata in C Op. 23, No. 2~III. Allegretto
2.17 Sonata in A minor Op. 23 No. 3~I. Allegro moderato
2.18 Sonata in A minor Op. 23 No. 3~II. Adagio con Espressione
2.19 Sonata in A minor Op. 23 No. 3~III. Allegro quasi Presto
3.1 Sonata in A minor Op. 53 "L'Ultima"~I. Grave (attacca)
3.2 Sonata in A minor Op. 53 "L'Ultima"~II. Moderato. Energico ed espressivo assai
3.3 Sonata in A minor Op. 53 "L'Ultima"~III. Andantino quasi Allegretto
3.4 Sonata in A minor Op. 53 "L'Ultima"~III. Rondo. Più tosto moderato
3.5 Sonata in C Op. 57 "Les Suivantes"~I. Allegro brillante
3.6 Sonata in C Op. 57 "Les Suivantes"~II. Andantino
3.7 Sonata in C Op. 57 "Les Suivantes"~III. Rondo alla Polacca. Allegro non tanto