Carl Seemann - Carl Seemann Plays Brahms (2023)

Carl Seemann (8 May 1910 − 26 November 1983) was a German church musician, pianist, piano teacher and director of the Musikhochschule Freiburg.

Born in Bremen, after the Abitur Seemann initially vacillated between studying theology and music. He decided to study church music in Leipzig. His teachers were Karl Straube, Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas and Carl Adolf Martienssen. After his exams, Seemann worked as organist in Flensburg and Verden. From 1935 he devoted himself mainly to his career as a pianist and to teaching - Seemann subsequently held professorships and master classes in Kiel, Strasbourg and Freiburg im Breisgau. From 1964 to 1974 he was head of the local state music academy.

Many recordings, but especially the duo performances with the violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, made Seemann one of the greats of post-war German musical life. Nevertheless, public attention turned to the increasingly dominant Russian master pianists such as Emil Gilels, Vladimir Horowitz and Svjatoslav Richter. This was possibly also a consequence of Seemann's rather matter-of-fact style of interpretation, which refrained from virtuoso tricks.

In 1999, the re-release of various Deutsche Grammophon recordings under the title The Legacy led to a kind of "Seemann's renaissance". In the supplement of the cassette the critic Joachim Kaiser, in whose book Great Pianists in our Time (Piper, Munich 1965; new edition 1996, ISBN 3-492-22376-1) Seemann did not appear, deals in an essay with Seemann's art.

His assistant in Freiburg was Fany Solter. In his master class studied, among others, the conductor Hortense von Gelmini.

Seemann's nephew Hellmut Seemann heads the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.

Seemann died in Freiburg im Breisgau at the age of 73.

Tracklist
01. 4 Ballades, op. 10: No. 1, Andante - Allegro
02. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: I. Capriccio in D Minor
03. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: II. Intermezzo in A Minor
04. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: III. Capriccio in G Minor
05. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: IV. Intermezzo in E Major
06. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: V. Intermezzo in E Minor
07. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: VI. Intermezzo in E Major
08. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: VII. Capriccio in D Minor
09. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: I. Intermezzo in A Minor
10. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: II. Intermezzo in A Major
11. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: III. Ballade in G Minor
12. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: IV. Intermezzo in F Minor
13. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: V. Romance in F Major
14. 7 Fantasies, Op. 116: Brahms: 6 Piano Pieces Op. 118: VI. Intermezzo in E Flat Minor
15. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 1, in B Major
16. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 2, in E Major
17. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 3, in G Sharp Minor
18. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 4, in E Minor
19. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 5, in E Major
20. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 6, in C Sharp Major
21. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 7, in C Sharp Minor
22. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 8, in B Flat Major
23. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 9, in D Minor
24. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 10, in G Major
25. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 11, in B Minor
26. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 12, in E Major
27. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 13, in B Major
28. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 14, in G Sharp Minor
29. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 15, in A Flat Major
30. 16 Waltzes, Op. 39: No. 16, in C Sharp Minor
31. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G major, Op. 78: I. Vivace ma non troppo
32. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G major, Op. 78: III. Allegro molto moderato
33. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100: I. Allegro amabile
34. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100: II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace - Andante - Vivace di più - Andante vivace
35. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100: III. Allegretto grazioso (Quasi andante)
36. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108: I. Allegro
37. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108: II. Adagio
38. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108: III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
39. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108: IV. Presto agitato
40. Scherzo in C Minor for Violin & Piano (From the FAE-Sonata)