Johann Baptist Cramer: Piano Concerto No.8, Op.70, Howard Shelley & London Mozart Players

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Johann Baptist Cramer - Piano Concerto No. 8 in D minor, Op. 70, Howard Shelley (piano/conductor), London Mozart Players
I. Moderato assai - 00:00
II. Larghetto - 07:33
III. Rondo a L'Espagnola - 16:28
Johann (sometimes John) Baptist Cramer (24 February 1771 - 16 April 1858) was an English pianist and composer of German origin. He was the son of Wilhelm Cramer, a famous London violinist and conductor, one of a numerous family who were identified with the progress of music during the 18th and 19th centuries.
From 1782 to 1784 he studied piano under Muzio Clementi and soon became a renowned professional pianist both in London and on the continent. He enjoyed a worldwide reputation, and was particularly appreciated by Beethoven when he visited Vienna, concertized and competed with him. Both were considered the greatest pianists of their time, Beethoven excelling in interpretative expressiveness, Cramer in pure technical perfection. He was the English publisher of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 and is credited with giving it its nickname, "The Emperor".
He wrote some 200 solo piano sonatas, about 50 sonatas for other instruments with piano accompaniment, 9 piano concertos, chamber music, and a number of works for piano solo, including etudes, nocturnes, divertimentos, capriccios, rondos, fantasias, impromptus, variations, and preludes. Cramer also produced many pedagogic works. Of these, he is best known for his Studio per it Pianoforte, a two-volume set of forty-two etudes each, published in 1804 and 1810 respectively, extensively used in the first half of the nineteenth century.
“The Concerto No. 8 in D minor, Op. 70, was published by the fifty-four-year-old Cramer in 1825, but was composed perhaps before 1820. The work is replete with bold and highly original features that collectively strive to create an entirely new structure. The first movement begins with a fairly typical orchestral ritornello, followed by the solo exposition. After subsequent statements of the secondary theme within this section, allowing us to collect our thoughts in anticipation of the exposition's conclusion. Cramer delightfully frustrates this expectation …. The Larghetto second movement then follows in D major. By using this design, Cramer jettisons almost two-thirds of the traditional content of the first movement. He leaves the formal implications of the exposition unrealised, projecting them onto subsequent movements. Development and resolution thereby become the business of the later movements. The Larghetto second movement includes an elaborate, written-out cadenza, highly unusual for a concerto middle movement. And while the concerto is not thematically cyclical, all or parts of the secondary theme of the first movement reappear in different guises throughout the subsequent movements, lending an element of organic cohesion to the work as a whole. The lengthy Rondo a L'Espagnola finale attempts to resolve the questions introduced by the strange thematic disposition of the first two movements. The title probably refers to Cramer's pervasive employment of a tambourine-like, quasi-bolero rhythmic figure. Because of its thematic borrowings from the first movement, however, Cramer's Rondo has a larger role to play in this concerto, supplying the sort of resolution that was omitted from the truncated first movement. Indeed, the contrasting middle section and subsequent material of the Rondo could be inserted into the short-circuited first movement, and thereby function as a much-delayed development and recapitulation of the secondary theme in conflation of the three movements of the classical concerto.
The recording of the Concerto No. 8 offers a challenge to the view that important works such as Weber's Konzertstfick, Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, and Liszt's Concertos somehow appeared out of a vacuum. Indeed, we may come to realise that Cramer played a role in the development of the genre that was much more important than we currently recognise.” (Album Notes by Steve Lindeman, 2002)

Пікірлер: 14

@Amourtendresse Жыл бұрын

Magnifique! Encore une belle découverte. Quelle richesse dans la musique de cette époque ! 🙏🎶💓🎶✨

@tepmich 6 жыл бұрын

Die Musik voller Schönheit, Anmut und Adel - ein weiteres Geschenk für uns, Hörer. Vielen Dank !!! Tepper Michael.

@tepmich 6 жыл бұрын

The Music full of beauty, grace and nobility - another gift to us, listeners. Thank you !!! Tepper Michael.

@valeriykhasyanov9011 3 жыл бұрын

Очень красивая музыка передает Ваш тонкий вкус и восприятие которые ощущаются и передаются благодарю

@sibarit101 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot. I'm glad to see that you've listened to many of my posts, even the very old ones. Your attitude honors me. I wish you good health and the most beautiful Winter Holidays!

@markhutchinson9236 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that. This is the first time I have heard Johann's music. I am Wilhelm's 5xG Grandson.

@sibarit101 6 жыл бұрын

Really? I'm glad you have so famous ancestors! Did they give you the musical talent? Anyway, I'm glad you listened to this music, thank you for your comment.

@michellestchiner 3 жыл бұрын

Super ! J’ai connu la descendante de J.N. Hummel ! Ces grands noms sont encore parmi nous !