CDs and Audio samples
Karlsruher Konzert-Duo
Here you will find a selection of the CDs we have released on the "fioriclassics" label.
Works of RomanticismReinhard Armleder Cello
Dagmar Hartmann Klavier
On their latest CD (released by the fioriclassics label), the Karlsruhe-based concert duo presents music from the era of the cello’s true "discovery." Despite the instrument’s significant role in orchestral and chamber music during the Baroque and Classical periods—and notwithstanding isolated (yet magnificent) exceptions such as Bach, Haydn, and Beethoven, who created opportunities for the cello to shine as a solo instrument in first-rate compositions—it was the Romantic composers who liberated it from its existence in the "shadows" of solo performance. They penned a vast number of outstanding works that fully showcase the instrument’s virtuosity and singing, lyrical qualities alike.
This CD, which has already garnered widespread acclaim, features well-known compositions (such as Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 1 and Schumann’s *Fantasiestücke*, Op. 73) alongside lesser-known gems (such as Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, Op. 22, and Liszt’s *Elegie* No. 1). The booklet notes were written by Andreas Kunle and Victoria Kahnes; the latter also collaborated with the author on the English translation.
From Bach to PiazzollaReinhard Armleder Cello
Dagmar Hartmann Klavier
Dagmar Hartmann Klavier
Beethoven, Mendelssohn und SchumannSonaten für Cello und Klavier
Reinhard Armleder Cello
Dagmar Hartmann Klavier
Dagmar Hartmann Klavier
Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 69, composed in 1807–08, ranks among the major works of his "middle period." It was written while he was working on the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. With its pastoral character and the gentle unfolding of broad, beautiful melodies, it bears a close affinity to the *Pastoral* Symphony.
Mendelssohn’s unease regarding the success of his *Songs Without Words* for piano sparked a renewed interest in piano chamber music in the late 1830s. "Moreover, a very significant branch of piano music that is very dear to me—trios, quartets, and other accompanied works, in short, true chamber music—is currently completely neglected, and I feel a compelling need for something new in this genre. I would very much like to contribute something to it myself," he wrote to Ferdinand Hiller in 1838. That same year, he composed the Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 45, the first of his two cello sonatas. Schumann devoted a review to it in the *Neue Zeitschrift für Musik* that aptly captures its essence: "The sonata is... music in its purest form, valid entirely on its own terms—a sonata of the kind that emerges only from the hands of a great artist."
For some of his chamber music works, Robert Schumann left the question of instrumentation relatively open, even suggesting alternatives himself: the clarinet, oboe, and cello were often interchangeable. This encouraged other musicians—such as the cellist and composer Friedrich Grützmacher (1832–1903)—to arrange some of Schumann’s compositions for cello and piano. Featured on this CD is the Violin Sonata No. 1 (composed in 1851) in a version for cello.