Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Handel Variations Lars Vogt & Northern Sinfonia

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83:
• 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: I. Allegro non troppo 17:43
• 2 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: II. Allegro appassionato 09:05
• 3 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: III. Andante 10:31
• 4 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 83: IV. Allegretto grazioso 09:23
• 25 Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24:
• 5 25 Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24: Aria - Variations 22:38
• 6 25 Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24: Fugue 05:28
• Total Runtime 01:14:48

Info for Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Handel Variations

The second album in Lars Vogt’s Johannes Brahms concerto series with the Royal Northern Sinfonia includes Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto combined with a solo piano work, Handel Variations Op. 24, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann by the composer.

Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 is a romantic 4-movement concerto written two decades after its predecessor and one of the cornerstones in the concerto repertoire. This remarkable opus with a great number of beautiful solo passages and with a duration of over 45 minutes has been intrepreted by numerous pianists since its premiere in 1881. In this album, Vogt performs the concerto conducting from the keyboard.

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op. 24 for solo piano were written by the young composer in his late 20s. This work, which includes some technically demanding passages for the pianists, reveals Brahms’ profound interest in the work of the great masters of the Baroque era which served as a source of inspiration in the composer’s creative work. This set of 25 variations and a fugue shows Brahms as a great successor to the tradition of piano variations exemplified by Mozart and Beethoven.

Lars Vogt, piano, conductor
Northern Sinfonia

Lars Vogt
has rapidly established himself as one of the leading pianists of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for over twenty years. His versatility as an artist ranges from the core classical repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto. A keen chamber musician, Lars Vogt is now increasingly working with orchestras both as conductor and directing from the keyboard.

Lars Vogt opened the 2012/13 season performing the Lutoslawski Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Moest at the Edinburgh Festival. He returns to the Cleveland Orchestra later in the season and additional North American appearances feature the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and a recital at the Y in New York. Other highlights of the season include concerts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Riccardo Chailly, two appearances in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris under Herbert Blomstedt and with the Orchestre National under Kurt Masur, and the conclusion of his residency with the Netherlands Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam. He also appears with Vienna Radio Symphony, NDR Hamburg, Swedish Radio, Brussels Philharmonic and the Liceu Opera Orchestra, Barcelona. In the UK he performs Beethoven concerti with the London Philharmonic under Christoph Eschenbach, London Symphony under Daniel Harding and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons.

During the 2011/12 season Lars Vogt made several appearances in North America, performing with orchestras in Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Seattle and undertaking an extensive tour with Christian Tetzlaff to New York, Philadelphia and other major cities. Concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra featured prominently both with Vladimir Jurowski in London and on tour in the UK and Germany with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Other concerto engagements included the New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Spain and orchestras in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Milan, Florence and Copenhagen. Recital appearances featured the International Piano Series in London and the Konzerthaus, Vienna.

Lars Vogt’s special relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic has continued with regular collaborations following his appointment as their first ever “Pianist in Residence” in 2003/4. He has also worked with many other German orchestras including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerische Rundfunk, Frankfurt Radio, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Guerzenich Cologne and Deutscheskammerphilharmonie Bremen. Other highlights over recent seasons have included many appearances at the BBC Proms and a residency at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg with the Vienna Philharmonic/Christoph Eschenbach and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding; as well as appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, NHK Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Swedish Radio, Finnish Radio, Czech Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris.

Lars Vogt enjoys a high profile as a chamber musician and recent appearances have included London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Rome and New York. In June 1998 he founded his own festival in Heimbach, Germany. Known as “Spannungen”, its huge success has been marked by the release of ten live recordings on EMI. He enjoys regular partnerships with colleagues such as Christian Tetzlaff and Thomas Quasthoff and collaborates occasionally with actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher. In 2005 he founded “Rhapsody in School” which has become a high profile education project across Germany. Lars Vogt is also an accomplished and enthusiastic teacher and was recently appointed Professor of Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, his teacher and close friend who died in June 2012.

As an EMI recording artist, Lars Vogt made fifteen discs for the label, including the Hindemith Kammermusik No 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado, the Schumann, Grieg and the first two Beethoven Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle, who has described him as "one of the most extraordinary musicians of any age group that I have had the fortune to be associated with". Recent recordings include solo Schubert for CAvi-music and Mozart Concerti with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra for Oehms, a solo Liszt and Schumann disc on the Berlin Classics label and Mozart Sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff for Ondine.

Booklet for Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Handel Variations