Kraus: Complete Piano Music

Featuring

Ronald Brautigam
Joseph Martin Kraus

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Compositional Technique

Kraus's Sonata in E major is considered one of the most original and complex keyboard sonatas of the late 18th century, combining elements of musical Sturm und Drang with classical and early Romantic hints.

Composer Biography

Kraus's health was weakened by tuberculosis, and he died shortly after composing two of his last works, a Symphonie funèbre and a Funeral Cantata, for the funeral of King Gustavus III.

Composition History

Joseph Haydn, a renowned composer, considered Kraus 'the first man of genius' he had met and praised Kraus's C minor symphony as a masterpiece that would be regarded through the centuries.

Composer Biography

Kraus's parents had 'little knowledge of music,' so he received his first musical instruction from his headmaster and the cantor of Buchen, and later studied law while focusing on composition.

Composition History

Kraus composed relatively little for the piano, despite being proficient on keyboard instruments, and some of his piano works were lost due to unfortunate circumstances, including a Dutch sea captain sailing off with his only copy.

Composer Biography

Joseph Martin Kraus, born the same year as Mozart, was often called 'the Swedish Mozart,' but closer inspection reveals more differences than similarities between them.