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Piano Concerto - Live Recording (vinyl)
Max Reger

Markus Becker

Piano Concerto - Live Recording (vinyl)

Price: € 29.95
Format: LP 12inch
Label: CAvi
UPC: 4260085535248
Catnr: AVI 8553524
Release date: 07 April 2023
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1 LP 12inch
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Label
CAvi
UPC
4260085535248
Catalogue number
AVI 8553524
Release date
07 April 2023
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

A huge mass of different sounds

„I’ve been playing and studying Reger’s piano music for a long time now. In the 1990s, not long after graduation, I recorded his complete works for solo piano. Ever since then, I’ve been featuring Reger frequently in my recitals: not only solo piano pieces, but chamber music including violin, clarinet and cello sonatas, the works for two pianos, piano trios, quartets, and Lieder. Reger composed an impressive quantity of music in almost all genres.

Of course I’ve been familiar with the Piano Concerto for a long time, but I only recorded it for the first time live in January 2017. That is the source for the recording on this CD. To be honest, at first I had my doubts about this piece. So many notes, all the dense chords, and rapid changes of register –daunting leaps across the keyboard! – along with extreme dynamics (pppp and ffff ). We already encounter that kind of superabundance elsewhere in Reger, but here he takes it to the extreme.

The “full” piano is usually playing in tandem with the full orchestra. In our rehearsals, Joshua Weilerstein, the Radio Philharmonic and I were constantly working on trying to achieve the right balance between the orchestra and the piano.…….“ (Interview with Markus Becker)
Ein Berg von Klängen

„Mit Regers Klaviermusik beschäftige ich mich schon sehr lange. In den Neunzigerjahren, kurz nach
meinem Studium, habe ich sein Gesamtwerk für Klavier solo auf CD eingespielt. Seitdem spiele ich
Reger immer wieder in Konzerten. Auch Kammermusik, also Violin-, Klarinetten- und Cellosonaten,
die Stücke für zwei Klaviere, Klaviertrio, Quartette, Lieder. Er hat ja in fast allen Bereichen
unheimlich viel komponiert.

Das Klavierkonzert kenne ich natürlich schon lange, aber erst im Januar 2017 habe ich es live
gespielt. Daher stammt ja auch die Aufnahme auf dieser CD. Ehrlichgesagt war mir das Stück
erstmal etwas suspekt. So viele Noten, dicke Akkorde, schnelle Registerwechsel, also Sprünge auf
der Tastatur, oft extreme Dynamik, vierfaches Piano und Forte! Diese Überfülle kennt man zwar
von Reger, aber hier treibt er es wirklich auf die Spitze: die meiste Zeit über spielt das Klavier
gemeinsam mit dem voll besetzten Orchester. In den Proben waren Joshua Weilerstein, die
Radiophilharmonie und ich damit beschäftigt, an der Klangbalance zwischen Orchester und Klavier
zu arbeiten.

Das ist problematisch, aber auch ein großer Reiz: wie schaffen wir es, diesen Berg von Klängen
so auszuleuchten, dass ein musikalischer Verlauf hörbar wird? Wo klingt etwas Wichtiges, welche
Stimme führt? Natürlich müssen Orchester und Klavier ab und zu die Muskeln spielen lassen, aber
unter der kraftvollen Oberfläche müssen wir immer nach Graustufen und Schattierungen suchen,
sonst wird diese Musik zur Qual…….“ (Interview mit Markus Becker

Artist(s)

Markus Becker (piano)

“As a musical virtuoso, Markus Becker is unbeatable – an intelligent creator of soulful musical portraits.” Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Born in 1963 in Osnabrück, Markus Becker has convinced audiences and critics alike as a highly formative interpreter of piano literature from Bach to Rihm, an eminent artist on the international scale who is noted for his original programming choices. Exceptionally among classical pianists, he also stands out as a virtuoso jazz improviser. Becker makes regular appearances at the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Kissingen Summer Festival. Markus Becker has played with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, RSB Berlin, the radio symphony orchestras of the NDR, WDR and SWR in Germany, and the BBC Welsh Orchestra under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Howard...
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“As a musical virtuoso, Markus Becker is unbeatable – an intelligent creator of soulful musical portraits.” Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Born in 1963 in Osnabrück, Markus Becker has convinced audiences and critics alike as a highly formative interpreter of piano literature from Bach to Rihm, an eminent artist on the international scale who is noted for his original programming choices. Exceptionally among classical pianists, he also stands out as a virtuoso jazz improviser.
Becker makes regular appearances at the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Kissingen Summer Festival. Markus Becker has played with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, RSB Berlin, the radio symphony orchestras of the NDR, WDR and SWR in Germany, and the BBC Welsh Orchestra under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Howard Griffiths, Michael Sanderling, and Thierry Fisher. Becker’s chamber music partners include Albrecht Mayer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Adrian Brendel, Igor Levit, Sharon Kam and Alban Gerhardt.
He studied with Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and received additional crucial guidance for many years from Alfred Brendel. Since 1993, he has been a professor at the Hanover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media, where he supervises a class of pianists and chamber ensembles, oversees the Masters Degree department, and directs the Chamber Music Institute.
With his CD recordings, Becker is the three-time winner of the ECHO-Klassik award as well as the German Critics Choice Award, along with a number of further distinctions from the international music press (Gramophone, Fono Forum, Klassik Heute, BBC Music Magazine, American Record Guide).
Becker‘s recording of Max Reger’s complete piano works on 12 CDs (Thorofon) is already considered legendary. Fono Forum‘s assessment of this encyclopaedic feat: “One of the rare and truly major achievements of German piano artistry in the past 50 years.” He received an OPUS award for his live recorded Reger piano concerto.

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Joshua Weilerstein (conductor)

Joshua Weilerstein (b. 1987) is the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Recognized for his integrity, clarity of musical expression, and profound, natural musicianship, he is committed to performing a wide range of repertoire and aims to bring new audiences into the concert hall.   He maintains a number of close relationships with leading international orchestras, including the Oslo Philharmonic, where he returns each season, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.   Weilerstein has also lead the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, NDR Hannover, SWR Stuttgart, Bamberg Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Czech Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony, and...
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Joshua Weilerstein (b. 1987) is the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Recognized for his integrity, clarity of musical expression, and profound, natural musicianship, he is committed to performing a wide range of repertoire and aims to bring new audiences into the concert hall.
He maintains a number of close relationships with leading international orchestras, including the Oslo Philharmonic, where he returns each season, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Weilerstein has also lead the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, NDR Hannover, SWR Stuttgart, Bamberg Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Czech Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Symphony, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he has appeared with the Vancouver Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, where he was Assistant and Associate Conductor.
In 2017, Weilerstein made his debut at the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall where he conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra with his sister, Alisa Weilerstein as soloist.
Joshua Weilerstein believes passionately in programming traditional and contemporary repertoire side by side and aims to include a work by a living composer in each of his concert programs. He is a strong advocate for open communication between the stage and audience. In 2017 he launched Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast, a podcast for music lovers of any level of expertise. He is accessible on social media for further discussion on all aspects of classical music and the experience of concert-going.

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Composer(s)

Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher. Born in Brand, Bavaria, Reger studied music in Munich and Wiesbaden with Hugo Riemann. From September 1901 he settled in Munich, where he obtained concert offers and where his rapid rise to fame began. During his first Munich season, Reger appeared in ten concerts as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. He continued to compose without interruption. From 1907 he worked in Leipzig, where he was music director of the universityuntil 1908 and professor of composition at the conservatory until his death. In 1911 he moved to Meiningen where he got the position of Hofkapellmeister at the court of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1915 he moved to Jena, commuting once a week to teach in Leipzig. He died in May 1916 on...
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Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 1873 – 11 May 1916) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher. Born in Brand, Bavaria, Reger studied music in Munich and Wiesbaden with Hugo Riemann. From September 1901 he settled in Munich, where he obtained concert offers and where his rapid rise to fame began. During his first Munich season, Reger appeared in ten concerts as an organist, chamber pianist and accompanist. He continued to compose without interruption. From 1907 he worked in Leipzig, where he was music director of the universityuntil 1908 and professor of composition at the conservatory until his death. In 1911 he moved to Meiningen where he got the position of Hofkapellmeister at the court of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1915 he moved to Jena, commuting once a week to teach in Leipzig. He died in May 1916 on one of these trips of a heart attack at age 43.
He had also been active internationally as a conductor and pianist. Among his students were Joseph Haas, Sándor Jemnitz, Jaroslav Kvapil, Ruben Liljefors, George Szell and Cristòfor Taltabull.
Reger was the cousin of Hans von Koessler.

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