Robert Rivard: ConcertsForPeace.org

Robert Rivard: ConcertsForPeace.org

Selected Piano Works of Wilhelm Furtwangler

recorded 5 April 1986 Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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Wilhelm Furtwangler at age 12

Robert Rivard at age 9

Between the years 1894 and 1903 Wilhelm Furtwangler composed more than two dozen works for the piano. As fate would have it, his childhood piano compositions would comprise his only output for solo piano.

These early works vividly show the wonderment, youthful exuberance, and the profound seriousness with which he first embraced the world of musical sounds. They, indeed, reveal the innermost thoughts of an exceptionally gifted, sensitive, and visionary child, who, from a very early age, was keenly aware of the spiritual, emotional, and structural elements that give music substance, drama, and inner strength.

The compositions on this CD were premiered by Dr. Rivard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on 12 January 1986 on a program that also included two other Furtwangler piano works, a Fantasy composed in 1894 and Drei Klavierstucke composed in 1903.

These latter works will be recorded in 2009 and made available to hear on this website, thus, bringing together for the first time all the works that were premiered on his Furtwangler Centenary Recital nearly twenty-three years ago.

Thema mit Variationen (1897)

Sonata in C Minor (1896)

First Movement: Adagio espressivo-Presto

Second Movement: Adagio non troppo

Third Movement: Rondo-Allegro

Fuga I (1898)

Fuga II (1898)

Fantasie I (ca. 1898-1901)

Fantasie II (ca. 1898-1901)