Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concertos IV - Piano Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, KV 238 and Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, KV 503 - Franz Vorraber (Piano) & Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Morten Schuldt-Jensen - A concert recording from the basilica of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Maulbronn Monastery from 2 July 2006, recorded and created by Andreas Otto Grimminger & Josef-Stefan Kindler - CD Audio, DDD, 53 min., KuK 28, ISBN 978-3-930643-28-8, EAN 42 6000591 043 8, © by K&K Verlagsanstalt anno 2006 -
"When I play piano, the visible subsides. An inexplicable fascinating world of sounds unfolds, whose myriad powers of expression I am privileged to channel." (Franz Vorraber)
"Endearing, that is Franz - a nice man with a wonderful Austrian charm and esprit. Chatting to us after the concert, how did he put it: "Playing Mozart in the monastery church with its acoustics is, for me as artist, an unique experience and unlike any concert hall, be it the Philharmonie in Cologne or the Gewandhaus in Leipzig". This is what makes Vorraber's performance correspondingly lively and elegant, his Mozart interpretations being stamped with an enormous passion and a wealth of suspense, without losing even one moment of Mozart's crystal clear, scintillating piano sound. Thus, the piano concerto's documented in this recording are, de facto, some of the most beautiful performances in our small piano concerto series in this edition and, in my opinion, the most faithful to Mozart's genius. " (Josef-Stefan Kindler)
Mozart wrote the Piano Concerto in B flat major at the age of twenty, apparently for his own usage. It belongs to one of the six Salzburg Concertos that Mozart wrote while in the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and is noted for its extremely personal form of expression, its almost symphonic phrasing and its fusion of musical humour and pathos. Of all the concertos, the Piano Concerto in C major is the one closest to the Jupiter Symphony. Of the 27 concertos for piano and orchestra the maestro wrote, the C major Concerto, KV 503, is one of the longest and the most symphonic. It is the last of the twelve so called "Vienna Concertos", which Mozart wrote in an almost inhuman burst of creativity in the space of merely two years, the first being the E flat Concerto, KV 449. The score was completed on 6 December 1798 and, in the same winter, Mozart presented the work to the public in performances in Vienna and Prague The concerto took place within the historical context of the war with Turkey and the pre-revolutionary unrest in France. With this backdrop, the theme from the last movement should be noted; it anticipates the beginning motif of the Marseillaise.
Born in Graz - Austria, Franz Vorraber has been fascinated by the piano since his early childhood. At the age of seven, he played the organ in church standing up - as he could hardly reach the pedals. At the age of thirteen, he was admitted to the piano class for exceptional students at the Music Conservatory in Graz, also learning the violin. The Viennese School in the tradition of Bruno Seidlhofer and the traditional German school of Wilhelm Kempff, handed down by Joachim Volkmann, dominated his study years. He has won many prizes for his skills on the piano. Here, just some of the awarders: the Austrian Culture Minister, the piano manufacturers Bösendorfer in Vienna and the city of Graz. He also won the Joachim Erhard prize. He completed his studies in Frankfurt and Graz receiving unanimously the highest awards. His greatest project has been the cyclical performance of Robert Schumann's complete piano works in a total of twelve evenings in different cities in Europe and Japan. The press and the public have repeatedly acclaimed him as one of the most important interpreters of Schumann in our times. He has recorded these works on a series of thirteen CD's for which he was awarded Austrian Broadcasting's Pasticcio prize in 2006. Despite all these prizes, other criteria are pivotal in Franz Vorraber's concerts: his enormous expressive force as a musician and his ability to expose the essential core of the music fascinate his public. He leaves his listeners emotionally moved. Since his debut in Tokyo at the age of 19, he has received many invitations to almost all the European countries, America and Japan, where he also holds master classes. Further information and projects at www.vorraber.com
Morten Schuldt-Jensen (born 1958) studied choir and orchestra conducting as well as singing and vocal education at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and holds an MA in musicology from the University of Copenhagen. In addition to numerous performances with international orchestras, he has been the conductor and artistic director of the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra and the choral director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig since 2000 and professor at the Music Conservatory in Freiburg since 2006. Further information and projects at www.musarc.de/msje.htm
In the more than a quarter of a century of its existence, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra has achieved international fame with its diverse program conception Its repertoire comprise three centuries of European and international music development. Since its formation, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra has performed numerous series of concerts at the Gewandhaus, has played in many musical centres in Germany and has been a guest at many international music festivals. Concert tours have taken it to almost all the European countries as well as many visits to Japan, Korea and the United States. Further information and projects at www.musarc.de/lko.htm
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Piano Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, KV 238
1. Allegro aperto
2. Andante un poco Adagio
3. Rondeau - Allegro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, KV 503
4. Allegro maestoso
5. Andante
6. Allegretto