Introduction
In the summer of 2017, cellist David Stromberg was searching for literature for two cellos and came across a double concerto for two cellos and orchestra by Emanuel Moór. He began to study more and more about this music and its background, and his enthusiasm lead to an Emanuel Moór CD released in April 2020.
The best musicians of his time performed the works of Emanuel Moór: The Berlin Philharmonic with its chief conductor Arthur Nikisch, the Vienna Philharmonic, Alfred Cortot, Eugene Isaÿe, Pablo Casals. Moór wrote about 100 works: operas, symphonies, chamber music and concertos. And then he fell silent in his mid-life and from then on did not write a single note. He went on to become an inventor. Moór's vision was to build the piano of the future: the Duplex Coupler Grand Piano.
In March 2020, pianist Florian Uhlig and David Stromberg tested the instrument together for the first time and awakened it from its slumber. With the project "The Duplex Coupler Grand Piano" Florian Uhlig and David Stromberg aim to breathe new life into a forgotten idea and to dive into a fascinating chapter of recent music history.
David Stromberg: "Wonderful music for piano and cello will be heard in a completely new way. We have chosen three sonatas by Emanuel Moór, Ernst von Dohnanyi and Richard Strauss, which go particularly well with the grand piano. Recently I came by a photo showing Ernst von Dohnayni conducting a concert in Budapest with the Duplex Coupler Grand Piano. The hall is filled to capacity and Winifred Christie, the second wife of Emanuel Moór, is sitting at the piano. It was clear then: we want to present his sonata for cello and piano. A piece by Emanuel Moór is naturally in the program, and the youthful piece by Richard Strauss, with its “Sturm und Drang”, fits wonderfully with the grand piano and the power of new ideas."
For a first CD, David Stromberg and Florian Uhlig chose repertoire by Emanuel Moór, Ernst von Dohnány and Richard Strauss. These pieces they selected had made a great impression on the audience at a concert given as part of the first Duplex Coupler Grand Piano Concert Series in Hamburg in March 2022. The ensuing CD was released on Oehms Classics in May 2023.
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