Berger / Clementi / Czerny / Hummel: Piano Works

With "The Beethoven Connection, Volume 2," Jean-Efflam Bavouzet continues his exploration of works by composers from Beethoven's era. The second album in the series collects piano works by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Muzio Clementi, and Ludwig Berger, as well as Carl Czerny's "Marcia funebre sulla morte di Luigi van Beethoven," Op. 146 (Funeral March on the Death of Ludwig van Beethoven). The program presents four different aspects of early 19th-century piano music – from the large-scale sonata to the characteristic funeral march.

Bavouzet sees the series as a look at Beethoven's musical environment and, consequently, at the conditions and interactions that shaped his music. The selection was once again curated with the advice of music historian and Beethoven specialist Marc Vignal.