Pianist Paul Badura-Skoda is the soloist on this recording, and the title of the CD is:
“Tänze aus Wien”
(In English: Dances from Vienna)
We get to hear music by Schubert, Schulhof and by Johann Strauss II
Schubert:
Ecossaise, D145 No. 6
36 Waltzes, D 365 Op. 9 (selection)
12 Waltzes, D145 (selection)
12 Valses Nobles, D 969 Op. 77: selection
12 Grazer Walzer, D 924 Op. 91: Farewell Waltz
Strauss, J, II:
Fledermaus-Polka, Op. 362
arr. Schulhof
Pizzicato Polka
arr. Schulhof
Spieluhr Polka
arr. Schulhof
Performed by Paul Badura-Skoda (piano)
For this latest album release, Paul Badura-Skoda draws from the abundant pool of dances and waltzes by Franz Schubert. The course of the Schubertiades – small, unannounced concerts in the circle of Schuberts Friends – often involved cheerful dancing for which Schubert, who improvised at the piano, provided the music. He played his finest musical thoughts repeatedly so as to remember them and write them down later on.
Accordingly, there is an incredible wealth of melodic and harmonious invention behind the apparently ever so simple waltzes and dances by Schubert, paired with a rich range of emotional contents: from radiant joy to the deepest sorrow and melancholy. The polka adaptions by Otto Schulhof using motifs by Johann Strauß II were likewise not composed for the public stage but primarily for smaller circles.
