Czerny: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5

Featuring

Nikos Athinäos
Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt
Carl Czerny

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Despite his success, Czerny felt at the end of his life that he had wasted his time on "childish things" and had not contributed enough to "sublime music."

Composer Biography

Carl Czerny, the composer, was a pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven from the age of ten, developing a "profound admiration and deepest love" for his master.

Composer Biography

Czerny assisted Beethoven with corrections and produced the piano score for Beethoven's opera, Fidelio.

Album & Artwork

The album's cover features Caspar David Friedrich's painting 'Landschaft im Charakter des Böhmischen Mittelgebirges' (Landscape in the Character of the Bohemian Central Mountains) from 1830/35.

Composer Biography

Czerny published 861 works with opus numbers during his lifetime, including editions of works by Domenico Scarlatti and Johann Sebastian Bach, and numerous arrangements.

Compositional Technique

Czerny's Symphony No. 1 in C minor uses an elementary motif, an upbeat dotted rhythm, to link musical ideas and prevent the form from disintegrating into a potpourri.

Historical Context

Czerny became a piano teacher at fifteen due to high demand in Vienna, as the rising bourgeoisie sought to prove their cultural competence through domestic music-making.