Ronald Brautigam - Kraus: Solo Piano Music (2006)

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Ronald Brautigam - Kraus: Solo Piano Music (2006)

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Joseph Martin Kraus, the German-born Swedish composer who was an almost exact contemporary of Mozart, is primarily known as a late classical symphonist of extraordinary importance, and heretofore this is where recording of his output has been concentrated. On Bis' Joseph Martin Kraus: The Complete Piano Music, pianist Ronald Brautigam comes to terms with the slim amount of keyboard music that belongs to Kraus, a cycle previously addressed on Naxos by pianist Jacques Després on a modern instrument. On the Bis, Brautigam uses a reproduced Walther & Sohn fortepiano built by Paul McNulty, an 1802 instrument that has a sound almost indistinguishable from that of a modern piano, except for its more limited range and shorter decay time. This seems to suit Kraus' keyboard music, which is rich in ideas but spindly in texture, a bit better than a modern instrument. Likewise, Després interpretations of Kraus' music sound read through at times and betray a sense of less than complete familiarity. This is not a challenge for Brautigam, who clearly knows, and loves, these willful and eccentric pieces of Kraus.
The main keyboard works of Kraus are his two piano sonatas, in E and E flat, respectively, which are gigantic in size in the context of the 1780s when they first appeared, and are equal to some of Beethoven's sonatas in terms of ambition and emotional intensity, although are still longer than most of them. Brautigam emphasizes speed in this music, which is a good thing because that is what one needs to make the hair-raising harmonic content of it work. Després' interpretations are clunkier and halting, particularly in the Scherzo con Variazioni, which takes him almost four minutes more to play than Brautigam. With all of the speed in this music, and the sound of this instrument, one might be well-advised to take Joseph Martin Kraus: The Complete Piano Music in at least three doses as after awhile it may seem like it's all going past in a blur. Nevertheless, this is great eighteenth century keyboard music, and for the moment, there is no one playing it better than Brautigam. Bis' sound, as usual, is superb.

Composer: Joseph Martin Kraus
Performer: Ronald Brautigam

Reviews: This disc is a gem, yet it's also one of those releases that you might overlook in the deluge of new, and frequently marginal, titles each month. But that would be a mistake, and if you enjoy keyboard music of the classical period, from C.P.E. Bach to Mozart and Haydn, then you will certainly want to hear this recital. Joseph Martin Kraus (a.k.a. "the Swedish Mozart), like his illustrious colleague, had an almost exactly contemporaneous and equally short life. He was born in 1756 and died in 1792. His music was much admired by his contemporaries, including Haydn, both for its formal mastery and progressive tendencies, both of which are very much in evidence in the two major works here, the Piano Sonatas in E major and E-flat major.


Composed in the late 1780s, these sonatas are large-scale pieces as advanced as anything that Haydn and Mozart were turning out at the time. The E major work lasts nearly half an hour, and in its size alone it anticipates the large early sonatas of Beethoven. Both pieces have three movements, one of which is a big theme and variations (the finale in the E major sonata, the middle movement in the E-flat piece). Ronald Brautigam plays this music with uncommon ebullience and enthusiasm, in particular characterizing these lengthy variation sets with unfailing intelligence and imagination. This, combined with the bright, sweet timbre of his fortepiano, gives the music the same immediate appeal that typifies his Haydn piano music cycle.


The other pieces are less important but nevertheless exude charm and personality. Both the Rondo in F major and the Scherzo con Variazioni are relatively substantial single movements, and the Swedish Dance will pique the interest of folk-music enthusiasts–its principal tune sounds remarkably like a sort of simplified Haydn rondo. The other two pieces, Zwey Neue Kuriose Menuetten and the Larghetto, are both tiny chips from the master's workbench. This is one of the most purely delightful discs of classical keyboard music to come along in quite a while, a discovery whose musical substance far exceeds its curiosity value.