Bart van Oort, Elisabeth Smalt, Heleen Hulst, Mátyás Virág - Early Romantic Piano Quartets by Hummel, Ries & Schubert (2025) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Piano Quartet in G Major, Op. Posth. 4: I. Andante Cantabile
02. Piano Quartet in G Major, Op. Posth. 4: II. Allegro Con Spirito
03. Piano Quartet in F Minor, Op. 13: I. Adagio
04. Piano Quartet in F Minor, Op. 13: II. Andantino
05. Piano Quartet in F Minor, Op. 13: III. Rondo. Allegretto Moderato
06. Adagio and Rondo Concertante in F Major, D.487: I. Adagio
07. Adagio and Rondo Concertante in F Major, D.487: II. Rondo. Allegro Vivace

Romanticism had many faces. Mozart’s spirit still floated through musical life and Beethoven’s mighty music set the benchmark for every Romantic composer. Mozart’s legacy was carried forward by two great pianists: Hummel, a pupil of Mozart, and Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. They each steered Romanticism in a different direction. Newspapers across Europe wrote of the ‘wild Romanticism’ of the bohemian Ries, now seen as a forerunner of Schumann. Meanwhile, the virtuoso Hummel enchanted and astonished his audiences. Around 1815, at the time of the Congress of Vienna, he was the most famous pianist in the world and Liszt was crazy about his music. Schubert, by contrast, was the creator and embodiment of personal expressiveness in the Romantic era. He performed only in private circles and had no interest in empty virtuosity, even though he was a superb pianist whose instrument, according to contemporaries, would sing under his hands.
This new recording presents the Piano Quartet in G major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), the Piano Quartet in F minor by Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) and the Adagio & Rondo Concertante by Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
Performed on period instrument by the Van Swieten Society, with
Heleen Hulst (violin), Elisabeth Smalt (viola), Mátyás Virág (cello) and Bart van Oort (fortepiano).

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