Alexandre Kantorow - Brahms - Schubert (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Although by no means Brahms’s very first composition, the Sonata in C major bears the number ‘Op.1’ and is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant débuts in musical history. No wonder no less than Robert Schumann saw Brahms as the saviour of German music. To accompany what is in every respect a dazzling work, another masterpiece was needed, and what better than Franz Schubert’s famous ‘Wanderer Fantasy’, the most virtuosic composition in his entire output. With it, Schubert opened up new expressive possibilities with his ‘orchestral’ writing, leaving Beethoven in the shade and seeming to anticipate Franz Liszt. The latter composer-pianist with his transcendental virtuosity also had to be present on this disc, and we find him with his masterly transcriptions for piano of five Schubert lieder.

In 2019, when Alexandre Kantorow, at the age of 22, became the first French pianist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky competition, his programme included no fewer than three works by Johannes Brahms. So it was with great anticipation that we were looking forward to his recording of the German composer’s works. With this release, Kantorow concludes his cycle dedicated to Brahms’s piano sonatas, the previous instalments of which garnered the highest praise from the music press around the world, as well as the most prestigious awards, such as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’Or, and Choc from Classica.

TRACKLIST

1. Alexandre Kantorow - Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: I. Allegro
2. Alexandre Kantorow - Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: II. Andante
3. Alexandre Kantorow - Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: III. Allegro molto e con fuoco — Più mosso
4. Alexandre Kantorow - Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1: IV. Allegro con fuoco — Presto non troppo ed agitato
5. Alexandre Kantorow - Der Wanderer, S. 558/11 (After Schubert, D. 489)
6. Alexandre Kantorow - Der Müller und der Bach, S. 565/2 (After Schubert, D. 795/19)
7. Alexandre Kantorow - Frühlingsglaube, S. 558/7 (After Schubert, D. 686)
8. Alexandre Kantorow - Die Stadt, S. 560/1 (After Schubert, D. 957/11)
9. Alexandre Kantorow - Am Meer, S. 560/4 (After Schubert, D. 957/12)
10. Alexandre Kantorow - Fantasy in C Major, "Wanderer Fantasy", D 760: I. Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo
11. Alexandre Kantorow - Fantasy in C Major, "Wanderer Fantasy", D 760: II. Adagio
12. Alexandre Kantorow - Fantasy in C Major, "Wanderer Fantasy", D 760: III. Presto
13. Alexandre Kantorow - Fantasy in C Major, "Wanderer Fantasy", D 760: IV. Allegro



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