Gerard Willems
Gerard Willems plays Beethoven and Mozart with a clear, unforced line. He was the first Australian pianist to record the complete 32 Beethoven sonatas, using the Australian-designed Stuart & Sons piano for that cycle and related works.
With the trio Mozartrois he recorded Mozart’s complete piano trios in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, including the later-identified Trio in D minor, KV 442. The music sits on the easy-going side of Mozart, and the playing matches it: elegant, melodically open, and free of unnecessary weight. His Beethoven survey extends beyond the sonatas to the five concertos with Sinfonia Australis, the Diabelli Variations, and a group of smaller and early pieces later gathered into a single collection, again on the Stuart instrument.
Performing as
Mozartrois: The Complete Piano Trios
Recorded in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, this two-disc set is a landmark Australian account of Mozart’s piano trios, and includes the seventh and most recently identified work of the group.