Search - Wagner, Moller :: Complete Piano Music 1

For the true Wagnerite only!

P. D. | Bogotá D.C., Colombia | 02/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This first volume includes two of the master's earliest surviving works whose major influence comes from no other than the great master, Beethoven. Boths sonatas, in A major and B flat major, are the first glances at Wagner's genius and virtuoso element from his days as a student under Theodor Weinlig in Leipzig. For the casual listener this sonatas might pass inadvertently because of their school excercise character, however, these are important works for a Wagnerite to own.
Last, but definitively not least, we find the sonata for Mathilde Wesendonck. Although it falls short on duration compared to the first ones, this sonata may prove to be Wagner's greatest work for piano (not to mention Beethoven's ninth symphony transription). The sonata, written twenty years later, anticipates the expressivenes of Tristan und Isolde completing the trilogy of works inspired by the master's forbidden affair with Mathilde Wesendonck (Opera, Lieder, Sonata).
Because of its historic importance and beautiful performance, these sonatas deserve a place in any Wagnerian's collection and stand alone without comparison to the grand master's operatic works."