-5 octave fortepiano-
FANTASIES
Composers and performers in the early classical period were supposed to be great improvisers. Through the style of Fantasie, vividly picturing these composers improvising, pursuing the maximum possibilities and varieties on the 5 octave fortepiano, the program tries to come closer to their most honest faces.
J.S.Bach : Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge mit Frühfassung BWV 903
C.P.E.Bach : Fantasia in A-dur, wq 58-7
Haydn : Fantasia (Capriccio) in C-dur Hob. XVII/4
Mozart : Fantasie in d-moll KV 397
-pause-
Neefe: Fantasia in f-moll
Beethoven : Klaviersonate Nr. 14 op. 27 Nr. 2 in cis-moll, "Sonata quasi una Fantasia“
Mozart and His Footsteps
- from Salzburg to Paris (1777, 1778) -
Mozart met the piano maker Johann Andreas Stein in Augsburg in 1777 and performed on his instrument. In a letter to his father, Mozart gladly describes how wonderful Stein's instrument was.
This program is predominantly based on three sonatas for the keyboard instruments that were played or composed during the journey in which Mozart met Stein (Salzburg-Munich-Augsburg-Mannheim-Paris, 1777~1778), delivering the inspiration Mozart received from his encounter with Stein's instrument and Stein himself. While the Fantasy in d minor and the Rondo in a minor were composed later in Vienna, they function as preludes to the sonatas.
Keiko Shichijo's new CD with this program will be released in Autumn 2021, from Bridge records, USA.
https://bridgerecords.com/products/9570
W.A.Mozart
Fantasie in d-moll KV 397
Klaviersonate Nr. 9, in D-dur KV 311
Klavieronate Nr.5, in G-dur KV283
~pause~
Rondo in a-moll KV 511
Klaviersonate Nr.8, in a-moll KV 310
-contemporary on fortepiano-
Les Signes Passagers
‘Les signes passagers' is an album of seven pieces for solo fortepiano written by Jürg Frey in 2021, commissioned by the Amsterdam-based pianist Keiko Shichijo. It was premiered by Shichijo on February 5, 2022 at the Concertgebouw Brugge during the SLOW Festival. In the same year, Shichijo performed the piece again at the November Music 2022 and later recorded it for this album in April 2023 at the Concertgebouw Brugge in the presence of the composer.
“As a listener, I have experienced with music played on early piano instruments for many years. And it has become more and more clear to me how delicate the influence of the sound of the instrument is on the inspiration of the composer. If the modern piano tries to get a constant brilliance over the whole keyboard, in the fortepiano there are worlds between the middle, the high and the low register. The whole construction of the instrument is so subtle, and every movement, the slightest change in registers and density of chords immediately opens a variety of colors, new perspectives and emotions.” – Jürg Frey on ‘Les Signes Passagers’
Jürg Frey : ‘Les Signes Passagers’ for fortepiano
I: leger et silencieux
II: avec sonorité, mais trè doux
III: lumineux et calme
IV: très calme
V: au lointain
VI: tendre et monotone
VII: discrète et loin
extract from the album ' Les Signes Passagers
Trailer
-6,5 octave fortepiano-
Luminous Verities
In the final movement's second fugue of Op.110, Beethoven wrote "gathering of confidence after illness or despair" (Poi a poi di nuovo vivente). Martin Cooper describes the Fugue as ‘ luminous verities’ after the distress of arioso in this piece. Charles Rosen states about this movement “not simply represent the return to life, but persuades us physically of the process".
This program is a celebration of our lives with a collection of pieces around Op.110 by Beethoven, which are intimate, festive, warm and have longings of life.
Franz Schubert: 12 Deutsche Ländler D790
Joseph Gelinek: 6 Variationen über ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ aus Mozarts Oper ‘Die Zauberflöte’ in F-dur
Carl Maria von Weber: Aufforderung zum tanz Op. 65 in Des-dur
-pause-
Franz Schubert: Adagio D178 in G-dur
Ludwig van Beethoven: Klaviersonate op.110 in As-dur
I : moderato cantabile molto espressivo
II : Allegro molto
II: Adagio ma non troppo-Fuga