Kornauth & Fuchs: Works for Viola & Piano Katharina Kang Litton & Andrew Litton

• Egon Kornauth (1891 - 1959): Viola Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3:
• 1 Kornauth: Viola Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: I. Fest und bestimmt 08:43
• 2 Kornauth: Viola Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: II. Langsam, sehr ausdrucksvoll 08:52
• 3 Kornauth: Viola Sonata in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 3: III. Wild und stürmisch 09:00
• Robert Fuchs (1847 - 1927): 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117:
• 4 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 1, Ländler Tempo 04:10
• 5 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 2, Ruhig und ausdrucksvoll 04:22
• 6 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 3, Leicht bewegt 03:51
• 7 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 4, Andante sostenuto con espressione 04:05
• 8 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 5, Mäßig bewegt 03:16
• 9 Fuchs: 6 Phantasiestücke, Op. 117: No. 6, Allegretto con delicatezza 04:35
• Robert Fuchs: Viola Sonata in D Minor, Op. 68:
• 10 Fuchs: Viola Sonata in D Minor, Op. 68: I. Allegro moderato, ma passionato 08:43
• 11 Fuchs: Viola Sonata in D Minor, Op. 68: II. Andante grazioso 06:38
• 12 Fuchs: Viola Sonata in D Minor, Op. 68: III. Allegro vivace 05:45
• Traditional:
• 13 Arirang (Arr. S. Hough for Viola & Piano) 02:21
• Total Runtime 01:14:21

Info for Kornauth & Fuchs: Works for Viola & Piano

In the spring of 2020, the Covid pandemic caused turmoil in the concert diaries of most musicians, including the conductor Andrew Litton and his wife Katharina Kang Litton, principal violist of New York City Ballet. To find an outlet for their musical expression they began to explore the repertoire for viola and piano together. Having played the sonatas by Brahms they came across the music by two other Viennese composers, Brahms’ near-contemporary Robert Fuchs and his student Egon Kornauth. Fuchs – who the less-than-effusive Brahms called ‘a splendid musician’ – had a long and distinguished career at the Vienna Conservatory where his other students included such composers as Mahler, Wolf, Sibelius, Zemlinsky and Korngold.

That the sonatas recorded here were composed around the same time as Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet can be hard to believe – as is the fact that Fuchs’s Phantasiestücke (composed in his 80th and final year) was contemporary with Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 1. But if they are not in any way pioneering, all three works are beautifully achieved: formally both strong and flexible, with a subtle, deeply-felt emotional colouring of their own. The Litton Duo close the recital with a piece that has a personal significance for the two – an arrangement of the Korean folk song Arirang which they received as a wedding present from Stephen Hough.

Litton Duo:
Katharina Kang Litton, viola
Andrew Litton, piano

No biography found.

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