Frank Braley
Pianist Frank Braley has fashioned a highly successful career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and conductor. A gifted child who would go on to win the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition, Braley has performed with leading conductors, major orchestras, and soloists from around the world. In 2023, he and frequent partner Éric Le Sage teamed up to issue Le Ruban Dénoué: Valses.
Braley was born in Corbeil-Essonne, France, in 1968. He studied piano from age four; at 18 he enrolled at the Paris Conservatory, where he studied piano with Pascal Devoyon and Jacques Rouvier. In 1991, Braley won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition, launching his highly successful career. To say the victory was unexpected would be an understatement: it was the 21-year-old Braley's first international competition. Thereafter, he regularly toured Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Among his most significant early recordings is a 1998 release of Richard Strauss' Op. 5 Sonata and other Strauss piano works on Harmonia Mundi (reissued in 2008). In 2002, Braley debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 at the Tanglewood Festival with conductor Hans Graf. The following year, on September 18, he debuted at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain.
Throughout his career, Braley has worked with many notable conductors, including Dutoit, Hogwood, Marriner, and Masur. His orchestral appearances include working with orchestras in Berlin, Paris, London, and Rotterdam. In chamber music, he's performed with such distinguished artists as violinist Renaud Capuçon, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and clarinetist Pascal Moraguès, among others. Braley has fearlessly lent his support to student performers, not necessarily a career-boosting strategy: in 2007, he toured several French cities, giving a series of concerts with the French Youth Orchestra under conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus. Braley's repertory is varied: while much of it includes a fair number of French works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Poulenc, it also takes in a disparate range of compositions by Mozart, Schubert, and more.
In 2009, Braley issued a recording of Schumann piano works (Ballszenen and Kinderball, both for piano four-hands) with pianist Éric Le Sage. His 2010-2011 concert schedule included a tour of London, Singapore, Paris, and other French cities, with Renaud Capuçon performing the cycle of Beethoven's ten sonatas for violin and piano. From 2014 to 2021, Braley was the music director of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, playing piano with and conducting the group. He has made numerous recordings for such labels as EMI, Harmonia Mundi, and RCA. In 2019, Braley recorded an album of Brahms' clarinet sonatas & trio with Moraguès and Christian Poltéra on the Indesens label. Braley once more teamed with Le Sage in 2023 for the Sony Classical album Le Ruban Dénoué: Valses; the pianists were joined by soprano Sandrine Piau.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
Discografia
16 album • Ordinato per Bestseller
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Kegelstatt Trio & Clarinet Quintet
Prazak Quartet, Pascal Moraguès, Frank Braley, Vladimir Mendelssohn
Musica da camera - Pubblicato da Praga Digitals il 1 ott 2003
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson - Lekeu
Gabriel Le Magadure, Frank Braley, Quatuor Agate
Classica - Pubblicato da Appassionato, le label il 1 mar 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Le Ruban Dénoué - Valses
Frank Braley, Eric Le Sage, Sandrine Piau
Classica - Pubblicato da Sony Classical il 1 dic 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Piano Trios No.5 "Ghost" & No.7 "Archduke"
Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Frank Braley
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 31 gen 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Piano Works
Classica - Pubblicato da harmonia mundi il 24 mar 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 - Sonatensatz, D. 28 - Notturno, D. 897
Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Frank Braley
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 12 mar 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel - Chamber Music
Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Frank Braley
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 1 gen 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le souffle des légendes
Saxo Voce, Frank Braley, Karol Beffa, Charles Berling, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Johan Farjot
Classica - Pubblicato da Indésens Calliope Records il 5 apr 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Trout Quintet, D. 667
Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Frank Braley, Gérard Caussé
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 1 nov 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Octet, Op. 20 & Romance Sans Paroles
Frank Braley, Ensemble Explorations, Roel Dieltiens
Musica da camera - Pubblicato da harmonia mundi il 2 dic 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fantasiestücke, Kreisleriana, Waldscenen
Eric Le Sage, Frank Braley, François Salque, Victor Julien-Laferrière
Classica - Pubblicato da Alpha Classics il 30 ott 2008
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas
Classica - Pubblicato da harmonia mundi il 26 apr 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven : Sonates pour violon et piano (Intégrale)
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 13 set 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Queen Elisabeth Competition, Piano 1991
Classica - Pubblicato da Muso il 26 ago 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Für die Jugend... (Pour la jeunesse...)
Eric Le Sage, Frank Braley, Denis Pascal
Classica - Pubblicato da Alpha Classics il 23 apr 2009
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Musique d'Abord 2013
Frank Braley, Trio Wanderer, Dietrich Henschel and Ekaterina Sementchuk
Classica - Pubblicato da harmonia mundi il 29 lug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo