Johannes Obermeier, the pianist on this album, is a versatile young artist who has won numerous national and international competitions, including the 3rd prize at the 2022 ARD International Music Competition in piano.
Album & Artwork
The album title "Brilliants" refers to cut diamonds, reflecting the works' technical sophistication, waltz-like nobility, and shimmering piano writing.
Composition History
The notes A, E-flat, C, and B (A-S-C-H in German notation) appear in almost every piece of Schumann's Carnaval, referencing the Bohemian town of Aš, home of his fiancée Ernestine von Fricken.
Composer Biography
Leopold Godowsky, one of the greatest virtuosos of the twentieth century, expressed his admiration for Frédéric Chopin by dedicating a large part of his compositions to him.
Compositional Technique
Robert Schumann's Carnaval is a musical masquerade ball where characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte dance and interact, unified by the waltz.
Critical Reception
Maurice Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, with its harmonic boldness and bitonality, caused a scandal at its premiere.
Composition History
Johannes Obermeier's "Thema mit Variationen über A-S-C-H" was a commissioned work from 2020, dedicated to Anna Magdalena Schock, and uses the same note sequence as Schumann's Carnaval.
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