The piano sonatas vol. 2

• In February 1991 we released on GLO 5031 Volume I of the complete Piano Sonatas by Robert Schumann, performed by Ronald Brautigam, one of the most outstanding young pianists of today and this CD was reviewed in Fanfare, America's leading record magazine in terms such as:
"an outstanding performance ... a natural Schumann player ...a beautifully controlled sound, a wide range of dynamics, precise rhythm, and a real identification with the Schumannesque idiom which succeeds in combining the introspective and extrovert qualities of the music, as the moment demands."

• Volume 2 as presented here, is the most complete Schumann ever presented on disc, because we added to Mr. Brautigam's again outstanding interpretations of both the Sonatas also Schumann's original movements, so that with some clever fiddling of the knobs on the CD player, the listener can also discover Schumann's original ideas about these works, before they were changed at the (often ill-judged) advice or his wife Clara - some or the greatest pianists in history, such as Sviatoslav Richter and Vladimir Horowitz always preferred to play Schumann's original finale to his Sonata in g minor, Op. 22!

• Apart from all the historical and musical arguments, it is also a fact that there are very few recordings of Schumann's Sonata in f minor, Op. 14, better known as Concert without Orchestra, and certainly no better ones, although the latter statement may be somewhat biased, coming from us ...

• To sum it ull up: an important release!

Ronald Brautigam was born in Amsterdnm and studied at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory, the Royal Academy of Music in London and with Rudolf Serkin In the USA. He performed with all the lending Dutch orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra among them, with such conductors as Riccardo Chailly, Sergiu Commisiona, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, Ferdinand Leitner and Simon Rattle. He also regularly performs in recital. Ronald Brautigam appeared in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia and Switzerland. In April 1984 he made his London debut with the London Sinfonietta conducted by Simon Rattle, a concert which was repeated in the Royal Albert Hall during the Prom Concerts and was followed by concerts with the English Chamber Orchestra, conductor Jeffrey Tote, recitals for the BBC and other appearances in the UK. In October he made his equally successful debut in the USA with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, playing Mozart. In 1988 he played for the first time in Japan, with orchestras in Osaka, Sapporo and Nagoya. He made several recordings for Philips, CBS and Etcetera for which he acquired the coveted Edison Award.