Walter Braunfels - Piano Music (Tatjana Blome; Holger Groschopp)

Information

Composer: Walter Braunfels

• (01) Variations on an Old French Song for 2 pianos, Op. 46
• (21) Little Pieces for piano four hands, Op. 24
• (26) Bagatelles for piano, Op. 5

Tatjana Blome, piano

Holger Groschopp, piano (1-25)

Date: 2020

Label: Capriccio

http://capriccio.at/walter-braunfels-blome

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Review

When Decca issued their recording of Braunfels’ opera The Birds, back in 1996, I was delighted by it, and started looking out for other recordings of works by this neglected composer. That particular recording seems to have stimulated a wealth of further issues by Decca, Dutton, Capriccio, CPO, Oehms and Hyperion, and a substantial body of recordings is now available. This CD is the first of his piano music which I have come across, and it supplements the orchestral, choral and song CDs issued by Capriccio.

Incidentally, Hitler was so delighted by The Birds, that in 1923 he invited Braunfels to compose an anthem for the Nazi Party. He evidently didn’t realise that the composer was half Jewish. Braunfels flatly refused to have anything to do with the request.

Braunfels was a concert pianist himself, and the Little Pieces are study works which gradually increase in difficulty, but they are charming to listen to, and maybe were composed for home playing with four hands on one piano. Here, however they are played on two pianos.

The early Bagatelles are for solo piano and very short, usually about two minutes, the exception being the five-minute third Ruhig, warm which is a piece of lyrical beauty. The similarly lengthy final piece, Teufelei (devilry) is, at times, a rather driven affair interspersed with relaxing interludes which build up to impressive climaxes. Several of the pieces have unusual headings – Devilry, Ghostly Scurrying, Mischievous Grace, Somewhat Unpolished, Worthy of Liberty, and I have no doubt that despite the pianist Tatjana Blome making them sound easy, they are in fact anything but.

The Variations on an old French Song forms the longest work here, and dates from later in the composer’s life, around 1933. The straightforward tune played at the outset is called Au clair de la lune, which a has mildly erotic text, and the composer has applied his considerable technique to construct a pianistic edifice in which the tune is deconstructed to a degree so that, at times, the two pianists appear to be playing entirely different works but still manage to blend. In its original form it lasted over 45 minutes, but Braunfels trimmed it by 15 minutes before its publication. It is quite an entertaining work, and is presented here with considerable flair.

The booklet is well produced and contains detailed information about Braunfels’ life and the music. The pianos are well recorded in grateful acoustics.

-- Jim Westhead, MusicWeb International

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Walter Braunfels (19 December 1882 – 19 March 1954) was a German composer, pianist, and music educator. Composing music in the German classical-romantic tradition, Braunfels was well known as a composer between the two World Wars but fell into oblivion after his death. There is now something of a renaissance of interest in his works. His opera Die Vögel, based on the play The Birds by Aristophanes, was recorded and has been successfully revived. Braunfels composed music in a number of different genres, not only operas, but also songs, choral works and orchestral, chamber and piano pieces.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Braunfels

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In 1995, Tatjana Blome made her début in the Berlin Philharmonie with Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Until she was fourteen she was taught by her father, Josef-Matthias Blome, followed by studies in Detmold with Renate Kretschmar-Fischer, in Berlin with Heidrun Holtmann and Aribert Reimann and in Munich in masterclasses with Gerhard Oppitz. Her career has brought performances throughout Europe, with recitals in Austria, France, Slovenia, Portugal and Russia and appearances as a soloist with various orchestras. Blome has recorded over fifty works for Deutsche Grammophon, EDA and Naxos, and for radio.
http://tatjanablome.de/

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Holger Groschopp (bonr 1964 in Berlin) is a German pianist. He studied piano with George Sava, composition with Isang Yun and Lieder interpretation with Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Groschopp's extensive concert activity has led him to France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Sweden, Iceland, Latvia, Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Latin America and in the USA. His repertoire ranges from Bach, Mozart to Rachmaninov, Gershwin, Kurtág and Henze. Groschopp has made many recordings with German and foreign broadcast and TV stations.

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Groschopp-Holger.htm

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