Michael Alexander Willens
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Johann Wilhelm Wilms: The Piano Concertos, Vol. 1
RecommendedRonald Brautigam (piano), Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Brautigam and Willens plainly believe in this music: they collaborated on the editions used, and create performances of lightness and transparency, matched by the recording’s clarity. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 1st July 2022
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Concerto
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Weber: Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra
RecommendedRonald Brautigam (fortepiano), Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Both concertos have a presto finale which calls for dazzling virtuosity – something which Brautigam has in spades: his fearless pyrotechnics are truly astounding. He’s stylishly supported by... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Concerto
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Johann Wilhelm Wilms: The Piano Concertos, Vol. 2
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano), Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
The Cologne-based period instrument ensemble responds to Michael Alexander Willens’s insightful direction with affectionate warmth and incisive attentiveness. Roland Brautigam, meanwhile, deploys... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 17th December 2022, Record of the Week
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Concerto
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Beethoven: The Piano Concertos
RecommendedThe five Beethoven piano concertos on period instruments
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Textures are bracingly lean, with a lightness and transparency that seems airborne...There’s nothing pompous or heavyhanded in these readings. Both Brautigam and Willens are alive to Beethoven’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2019
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Mozart: Complete Works For Clarinet, Vol. 2
Nicolas Baldeyrou (clarinet), Gabriel Pidoux, David Guerrier, David Douçot, Kölner Akademie (chamber ensemble), Michael Alexander Willens
Baldeyrou's recording shines a spotlight on this genre which despite flourishing between 1770 and 1830, particularly in Paris, is now sadly neglected on the concert platform and in the recording... —
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Special offer. J.S. Bach: Lutheran Masses BWV 233-236
Kölner Akademie, Thomas Bonni, Hanna Herfurtner, Elvira Bill (mezzo-soprano), Gwilym Bowen, Michael Alexander Willens
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The Kölner Akademie is in period instrument guise, and the sound is often suitably thrilling and zippy. —
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Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos
Ronald Brautigam (pleyel grand)
Die Kölner Akademie, Michael Alexander Willens
Brautigam uses a copy of a Pleyel piano of 1831 – just a year before the First Concerto was composed – and he skates over its keys with dazzling ease…he negotiates the cascades of notes with... —
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