Credits:

Berger, Wilhelm (1861-1911)

Description:

Wilhelm Berger was born in 1861 to a father from Bremen who owned a sheet music store in Boston. The following year, he returned to Germany with his family, where he demonstrated his outstanding musical talent, giving his first public concert at the age of 14 and composing numerous songs and piano pieces. He then continued his professional education at the Higher School of Music in Berlin, and from 1888 to 1903 he was a member of the faculty of the Klindwold-Scharwenka Conservatory and conductor of the Berlin Musical Society, making him a central figure in the Berlin circle of composers. Despite his short life at the age of 49, he left more than 100 works, some of which were performed long after his death. Some of these works were performed for a long time after his death, but in recent years they are rarely performed. The Small Concerto, Op. 43, which has never been published, does not highlight the piano's virtuosity, but rather treats the piano as one of the instruments of the orchestra, as in Brahms' Piano Concerto, so that the entire work is covered with a polyphonic and profound sound. On this album, the virtuoso Oliver Trindle takes charge of the piano and gives a superb performance. The symphony written ten years later is Berger's masterpiece. Naxos Japan