Damcke: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 - Chamber Works

Pianotrio Then-Berg – Yang – Schäfer

CPO 555 521-2

First recordings by Berthold Damcke

First the discovery of his works in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, then the new edition of the chamber music works in the Kammermusikverlag from 2020 and finally the contact to the three performers who were very interested in recording these works. Thus, with these first recordings, some 160 years after the composition of these works, one can finally get a listening impression of the chamber music of Berthold Damcke: a German composer, pianist, conductor, music educator and critic, and newspaper correspondent. Born in Hanover, he studied theology and later music in Frankfurt am Main. In 1845 Damcke went to St. Petersburg. From 1859 he lived and worked in Paris, where he was a correspondent, among other things. The 2 piano trios at the center of this production are works that were very much heard in Paris at the time, or in its salons. The Revue et Gazette described the music as "the best chamber music". Liszt spoke of Damcke as one of the most sought-after composition teachers in Paris. Berlioz called him a "great musician, an artist." The recorded works are well worth rediscovering and performing.

CD x 1

CPO

3.10.2022

761203552122