Contains comprehensive notes on the music and an artist biography. Though not all eternal masterworks, Wagner’s piano works show a fascinating aspect of the operatic genius. Wagner’s piano works show his development as a composer during his entire lifespan: from the early Sonata showing influence of Weber and Pleyel, to the “Wagnerian” Grosse Sonate, mature and epic in scope, to later pieces, often written for Mathilde Wesendonck, secretly expressing his love for her. Amidst the flood of Wagner issues for the 2013 Wagner’s Bicentennial this double CD presents an often hidden aspect of opera-composer Wagner: his complete pianistic output. New recording (2012) by one of Italy’s leading pianists, Pier Paolo Vincenzi. He is joined for the Polonaise for 4 hands in D by Federica Ferrati. The works are performed by the Italian pianist Pier Paolo Vincenzi, whose busy concert schedule takes him all over his native country. The ‘Tristan chord’ at the beginning of the latter has become considered a clear attestation of Wagner’s infatuation with Mathilde, for whom he stopped work on the Ring cycle to begin that great testament of love, Tristan und Isolde. A regular dedicatee of Wagner’s works was Mathilde Wesendock – the relationship between the two is still much debated today – and among the works in this collection, three are dedicated to Mathilde: the ‘masterpiece’ Eine Sonate für das Album von Frau Mathilde Wesendock, Notenbrief für Mathilde Wesendonck and the ‘Schluß zum Vorspiel’ from Tristan und Isolde. These influences are heard again in the more mature and complex Große Sonate – a work that Wagner intended to turn into a symphony, though this attempt was later abandoned. The earliest sonata on the recording is the Piano Sonata in B flat, which shows evidence of Wagner’s music education, with much indebted to the Beethovian model as well as to the great pianist-composers Weber and Pleyel. The collection brings together Wagner’s entire output for solo piano. Studied at the Keuzschule, Dresden the Nikolai Gymnasium, Dresden pupil of Gottlieb Mller (piano) and Weinlig. But Wagner’s piano works can be seen to be just as important in understanding the evolution of his style and musical thought, and thus the development of this dominating figure of the 19th century. However, his thoughts on the relative importance of music and drama were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional operatic forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.Today Richard Wagner is best known for his extraordinary operas any success in other domains was dwarfed by these compositional feats in the world of musical theatre. Wagner realized this concept most fully in the first half of the monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. This would achieve the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts and was announced in a series of essays between 18. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works such as The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser which were in the romantic traditions of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner transformed operatic thought through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"). Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Wilhelm Richard Wagner (German pronunciation: - 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called).
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