CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1786-1826) : PIANO WORKS - Jean-François Heisser (piano Erard)

Despite his very short career, the composer of Freischütz, a work haunted by the supernatural and the fantastic, opening the way to German opera leading to Wagner, also left a non-operatic oeuvre just as festive, neglected but hardly negligible. A virtuoso pianist, he wrote brilliant pieces for himself, requiring assurance, bravura and a certain arrogance. Before Chopin and Liszt, he demonstrated that virtuosity, far from stifling inspiration, can make the discourse almost familiar to the listener, enjoined to dreams not tragedy. Dubbed a ‘prince of music’ by Stravinsky, an aristocrat of an art that is a source of youth and freshness, an invitation to the dance or to a feria tinged with humour but apparently devoid of afterthoughts.

PRD/DSD 250 247