Rathaus & Shostakovich: Piano Sonatas Vladimir Stoupel

• Karol Rathaus (1895 - 1954): Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 2:
• 1 Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 2: I. Grave e maestoso 11:09
• 2 Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 2: II. Lento con espressione 09:35
• 3 Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 2: III. Scherzo. Presto 05:20
• 4 Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 2: IV. Finale. Grave - Allegro energico 06:00
• 5 Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 20: I. Langsam 07:10
• 6 Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 20: II. Scherzo. Presto 04:46
• 7 Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 20: III. Fuge. Andante con moto 07:24
• 8 Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 20: IV. Presto 05:03
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 12:
• 9 Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 12: I. Allegro 13:32
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61:
• 10 Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: I. Allegretto 07:05
• 11 Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: II. Largo 09:37
• 12 Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: III. Moderato 17:37
• Total Runtime 01:44:18

Info for Rathaus & Shostakovich: Piano Sonatas

“Although Karol Rathaus (1895-1954) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) were contemporaries, they could hardly have led more different lives. Both biographies nevertheless exemplify the 20th century with its catastrophes, persecutions and destruction, and it is thus worthwhile to feature their music together in the same program.

Born into a Polish Jewish family in Ternopil (then part of Austria-Hungary), Karol Rathaus started composing at a very early age. He was accepted into the Vienna Academy for the Performing Arts and Music in 1913, but his studies were suddenly interrupted by the onset of World War I: for the next four years, he would have to serve in the Austrian army. As one of Franz Schreker’s favorite students, he followed Schreker to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he passed the entrance exam with flying colors with his First Sonata for Piano in C Minor, op. 2 (1920). The Vienna publishing house Universal-Edition published the sonata and signed a ten-year contract with the young composer. This marked the beginning of the quasi-meteoric rise of Karol Rathaus, whom prominent German critics were starting to hail as “New Music’s greatest hope” (Walter Schrenk).………

In December 1926, 20-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich presented his 1st Piano Sonata, op. 12, to the public in Leningrad. Certain parallels with Rathaus’s 3rd Sonata are striking: driving momentum, rapid changes of mood, a complex and technically challenging piano texture, free tonality, and a bustling metropolitan mood. In Shostakovich’s sonata we additionally encounter a series of clusters along with a grotesque aspect….” (Excerpt from the liner notes by Vladimir Stoupel)

Vladimir Stoupel, piano

Vladimir Stoupel
is a musician with an extraordinarily rich tonal and emotional palette. The Washington Post recently praised his “protean range of expression” and Der Tagesspiegel Berlin described his performance as “enthralling and atmospherically dense.” His ex- traordinary technical command allows him to explore the outermost limits of expression, mesmerizing audiences with his musical intensity. After a solo recital, the Frank- furter Allgemeine Zeitung granted the pianist a critic’s greatest compliment: “Unforgettable!” Vladimir Stoupel has been a guest soloist with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the German Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Russian State Or- chestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Staatskapelle Mainz, and the Staatsphilharmonie Kassel. In the United States, he has been heard with orchestras including the Wheeling Symphony, Lancaster Symphony and Lake Placid Sinfonietta. He has collaborated with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Michail Jurowski, Leopold Hager, Marek Janowski, Steven Sloane, Stefan Malzew, Patrik Ringborg, and Günther Neuhold.

Vladimir Stoupel has appeared on many of the world’s notable stages, including Berlin’s Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Avery Fisher Hall in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, Hamburg’s Grosse Musikhalle, and Dortmund’s Konzerthaus, to name just a few. Festival appearances include the renowned Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Piano en Valois (France), Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte (Germany), Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo, the Helsinki Festival, and Festival La Grange de Meslay in Tours (France). He is a co-artistic director and founder of the international festival "Aigues-Vives en Musiques" (France).

Stoupel’s interest in breaking up the at times rigid incrustations of the concert business and – in addition to the cultivation of the classics – in dedicating himself to the unjustly forgotten “edges of the repertoire” is also re- flected in his CD recordings and diverse chamber music activities. Thus, in 2007, he released a CD on the EDA label, entitled "The Life of the Machines", with piano works of the twentieth century by George Antheil, Conlon Nancarrow, Alexander Mossolov, and others. In September 2010, together with Judith Ingolfsson (Violin) and Leonid Gorokhov (Cello), he released a CD "En hommage Simon Laks" and a double - CD with chamber works by Glinka, Borodin and Shostakovich, with Breuninger Quartet. His extensive discography includes Arnold Schoenberg’s complete piano works (auris subtilis, 2001), the complete sonatas of Alexander Scriabin (Audite, 2008) – a highly regarded recording for which he received the Luxemburgian Excellentia Prize, among others – and a recording of the complete works for viola and piano by Henri Vieuxtemps, with violist Thomas Selditz, which was awarded the coveted Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2002.

In recent years, Vladimir Stoupel has also made a name for himself as a conductor. He conducts chamber operas at Konzerthaus Berlin on a regular basis, works with the Philharmonie Neubrandenburg, the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, the Nîmes Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Kammerphilharmonie, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Cuidad d'Oviedo, the Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra Leipzig, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille and the Young Europe Philharmonic, among others. A main focus is on the works of the twentieth century and contemporary compositions. Thus, Stoupel gave an extremely successful debut at Iceland's Reyk- javik Arts Festival in 2009, where he performed works of contemporary women composers (Sofia Gubaidulina, Frangis Ali-Sade, Lera Auerbach and others) with the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra. He is regularly conducting concerts with the Brandenbourg State Orchestra. He also lead the German premiere of the opera "Wir Gratulieren!" by M. Weinberg at Konzerthaus Berlin and a new production of the Shostakovich opera "The Tale of the Pope and of his Workman Balda", also at Konzerthaus Berlin.

A French citizen since 1985, Vladimir Stoupel currently lives in Berlin.

Booklet for Rathaus & Shostakovich: Piano Sonatas