Disk of 2024
Pianist Andriy Dragan, Musikkollegium Winterthur, conductor Bogdan BoŸoviæ. Franz Xaver Mozart - CD Review, 31st of May 2024
Franz Xaver Mozart - Adagio and Rondo allegretto from Concerto No. 1 op. 14 in C major; Concerto No. 2 op. 25 in E flat major.
Composer and pianist Franz Xaver Mozart lived from 1791-1844, developing his career in the shadow of his much more famous father - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in Vienna, Franz Xaver Mozart studied in Prague and in his hometown, and in 1808 moved to Galicia where he worked as a teacher. Five years later he settled in Lviv. In this city, Franz Xaver Mozart established himself as a concert pianist, teacher and organiser of musical events, initially promoting the work of his brilliant father. Also in Lviv, he founded a musical society and created an impressive number of chamber, choral and piano works, influenced by the classical style of the first decades of the 19th century, but also by Polish and Ukrainian folklore, which he knew closely during his time in Galicia. He died in 1844 in Karlsbad.
Naturally, much of his work remains in the archives of the city where he worked for 30 years. These archives have been extensively researched by the Ukrainian pianist born in Lviv himself and based in Switzerland - Andriy Dragan, who has already recorded two albums dedicated to the composer Franz Xaver Mozart.
The latest album in this series was released on the 10th of May by the Swiss label Claves Records and features the two concertos for piano and orchestra by Franz Xaver Mozart, eloquently performed by pianist Andriy Dragan with the Winterthur Musikkollegium Orchestra, conducted by Bogdan Bozovic.
Pianist Andriy Dragan, 38, was born in Ukraine into a musical family and studied at the National Academy of Music in Lviv before moving to Switzerland to continue his studies at the Basel Academy of Music. He has won major prizes in international competitions and has performed at festivals in Lucerne, Verbier, Bergen, La Roque d'Atheron, among the ensembles with which he has collaborated are the Munich Broadcasting Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. Now based in Basel, Andriy Dragan is working on numerous projects dedicated to Ukrainian composers and the work of Franz Xaver Mozart, whom he discovered during his studies in Lviv. "His music touches my soul and continues to inspire me today," says the pianist. "I found new and precious pearls for myself. This composer's work of some 30 years in Galicia has revitalised multicultural life to this day. I believe his legacy has not been fully discovered, which encourages me to continue my research."
