Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Ravel - Pure Live IV Jeroen de Groot & Bernd Brackman

• Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907): Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13:
• 1 Grieg: Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13: I Lento doloroso 08:29
• 2 Grieg: Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13: II Allegretto tranquillo 06:27
• 3 Grieg: Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13: III Allegro animato 05:27
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Havanaise in E, op.83:
• 4 Saint-Saëns: Havanaise in E, op.83: 10:10
• Camille Saint-Saëns, Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931): Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de Valse:
• 5 Saint-Saëns: Ysaÿe: Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de Valse: 07:56
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75:
• 6 Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75: I Allegro agitato 07:09
• 7 Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75: II Adagio 06:19
• 8 Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75: III Allegretto moderato 03:49
• 9 Saint-Saëns: Sonata in D minor, op.75: IV Allegro molto 06:45
• Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937): Ravel Tzigane:
• 10 Ravel: Ravel Tzigane 10:06
• Total Runtime 01:12:37

Info for Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Ravel - Pure Live IV

On this fourth live album, Jeroen and Bernd play works by Ravel, Saint Saëns, Ysaÿe and Grieg. Recorded during a concert at the Zeeuwse Concertzaal March 12, 2023

Edvard Grieg - Sonata No.2 in G major, op.13


In this sonata (1867), both outer movements contain elements of springar. In the first movement, after the generous exposition, Grieg keeps the development short, varies the material in the recapitulation, announces the coda in the grand manner and signs off with a confident flourish. The second movement is likewise in ABA-form. The E minor outer sections surrounding the E Major middle panel. The final is an individual amalgam, once again contrasting the rhythmic-melodic motivic interrelationships of the melodic material with more dramatic harmonic shifts.

Camille Saint-Saëns - Havanaise in E, op.83


Composed in 1887. A dance with a syncopated, binary rhythm and a strong first beat, freely developed in Rondo form. A dreamy, lyrical melody on the violin serves as a more peaceful refrain between highly virtuosic episodes.

Camille Saint-Saëns/ Eugène Ysaÿe - Caprice d’après l’étude en forme de Valse


This highly virtuoso showpiece (composed 1901) was an audience favorite in its days. An example of the flourishing Franco-Belgian violin technique. It conveys the spirit and style of the bell-epoque and brings together two leading musical personalities of the era-the much-venerated composer Camille Saint-Saëns and his young colleague, violinist, teacher and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.

Camille Saint-Saëns - Sonata in D minor, op.75


This sonata (1885) is a broad-conceived work, designed like Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, to create a brilliant effect in performing, especially in the final. The dark passionate opening theme with its syncopations, crossaccents and constant changes to time-signature has a remarkable rhythmic freedom. The sensuous Adagio, whose main theme is beautifully formed as a dialogue between the two instruments. The delicate minor-key scherzo that follows is, most unusually, formed almost entirely from five-bar phrases. The subdued colors of this piece provides a perfect foil to the bright D major of the final with its dramatic contrasts and virtuosic panache.

Maurice Ravel - Tzigane


The Tzigane (1924) is basically a Hungarian Rhapsody in the Lisztian manner, though spikier in harmony and rhythm. Shifting speed impetuously and brilliantly colored with harmonics and plucked passages, it whirls to a perpetualmotion close.

Jeroen de Groot, violin
Bernd Brackman, piano

Jeroen de Groot
The Netherlands 1961, studied at Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam with Herman Krebbers from the age of 11. After winning the prestigious Oscar Back competition in 1985 he continued his studies with Sandor Vegh in Salzburg and Ivry Gitlis in Paris. During this period he was prizewinner at competitions in Munich, Scheveningen, Concertgebouw and Bordeaux.

The past years he has been working on the launch of several new CD's eg the Bach solo Sonates and Partitas. The interpretation of this ‘Bible’ for the violin is always on his mind. In concerts in which he plays three up to six of the sonates his fresh approach to this masterpiece is renowned.

Movement, spontaneity, warmth and communication are the keywords for this artist. Since november 2016 Jeroen is the ambassador of the foundation 'Connect by Music'.

Bernd Brackman
Since the 1980s, Bernd Brackman (1960) has made a name for himself with his highly personal and experienced interpretations of the great piano repertoire. He received his training from his mother Frieda Brackman-Hoogerwerf, Jaap Spaanderman and from Jan Wijn, with whom he graduated from the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam in 1985. He perfected his knowledge with masters such as Vlado Perlemuter, Tamás Vásáry, György Sándor, Peter Feuchtwanger, Naum Grubert, Sergey Dorensky and Leon Fleisher. He has won many prizes, including the prestigious Elisabeth Evertsprijs (1984), the Jacques Vonk Concours in Amsterdam (1985) and, in 1997, an Edison for the CD of Dutch Music he made with flutist Jacques Zoon. As a soloist and chamber music player, Bernd Brackman performs frequently at home and abroad. In Johannesburg, for example, he played Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with the National Orchestra of South Africa. His extensive solo repertoire ranges from Bach to Cage, with an emphasis on Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Skrjabin, Ravel and Messiaen.

Booklet for Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Ravel - Pure Live IV