Czerny, although a little less well known than Schubert, often tried to go beyond the possibilities of the piano. A great admirer of Beethoven, Czerny was a pedagogue who was loved by his pupils, such as Thalberg or Liszt, but behind his academic background, there indeed lies a composer of great talent.
His Grand Sonata No. 6 in D minor is an incredibly complex piece, which consists of seven movements and an extensive chorale with variations. Listening to this work completely changes the perception one might have had of this composer who so tortured young pianists with his Études. Beyond the technical demands of this great piano work, we find inventive, strong, dramatic and daring music whose connections to Beethoven and Schubert are obvious. Aurelia Vişovan manages to find many connections between the works of Schubert and Czerny; thematic connections, but also the fact that they were both Viennese, contemporaries, and united by their shared devotion to Beethoven.
Aurelia Visovan - Capriccio Appassionato
Aurelia VisovanFor this album, Capriccio appassionato, Aurelia Vişovan chose to perform on an old foretepiano, a copy by Robert Brown of a Viennese piano. This choice alone makes Vişovan's choice of repertoire that much more challenging, but the instrument allowed her to bring out the intense polyphony in the works in a way that created a much more diverse palette of colours and sounds. This is an absolutely sumptuous recording that is not to be missed.