The Birth of the Étude Anna Petrova-Forster

• Johann Baptist Cramer (1771 - 1858):
• 1 Cramer: Étude in G-Sharp Minor, Op. 30 No. 26 02:40
• 2 Cramer: Étude in D Major, Op. 40 No. 77 02:46
• Daniel Steibelt (1765 - 1823): 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts):
• 3 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 31 in A Minor 01:02
• 4 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 26 in D Minor 04:56
• 5 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 33 in D Minor 01:42
• 6 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 10 in G Major 01:46
• 7 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 11 in E-Flat Major 02:39
• 8 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 30 in C Major 01:24
• 9 Steibelt: 50 Études, Op. 78 (Excerpts): No. 24 in F Minor 02:38
• Joseph Woelfl (1773 - 1812): Method of the Pianoforte, Op. 56 (Excerpts):
• 10 Woelfl: Method of the Pianoforte, Op. 56 (Excerpts): Étude No. 41 in F Minor 01:53
• 11 Woelfl: Method of the Pianoforte, Op. 56 (Excerpts): Étude No. 18 in D Minor 02:59
• 12 Woelfl: Method of the Pianoforte, Op. 56 (Excerpts): Étude No. 15 in E-Flat Major 04:01
• Anonymous:
• 13 Cours complet pour l'enseignement du forté-piano (Excerpts): Étude No. 78 in A Major 02:38
• 14 Cours complet pour l'enseignement du forté-piano (Excerpts): Étude No. 107 in B Major 04:06
• João Domingos Bomtempo (1775 - 1842): Elementos de música, Op. 19 (Excerpts):
• 15 Bomtempo: Elementos de música, Op. 19 (Excerpts): Étude No. 7 in B-Flat Minor 03:07
• 16 Bomtempo: Elementos de música, Op. 19 (Excerpts): Étude No. 5 in E Major 03:47
• 17 Bomtempo: Elementos de música, Op. 19 (Excerpts): Étude No. 11 in G Minor 01:18
• Ludwig Berger (1892 - 1969): 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts):
• 18 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 1 in C Major 02:06
• 19 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 3 in C Minor 00:58
• 20 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 4 in D Major 04:53
• 21 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 8 in B-Flat Minor 02:02
• 22 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 9 in G Minor 04:27
• 23 Berger: 12 Études, Op. 12 (Excerpts): No. 11 in G Minor 01:38
• 24 Berger: 15 Études, Op. 22 (Excerpts): No. 3 in C Minor 01:53
• 25 Berger: 15 Études, Op. 22 (Excerpts): No. 1 in A Minor 03:10
• 26 Berger: 15 Études, Op. 22 (Excerpts): No. 14 in B Major 04:28
• Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785 - 1858): 30 Études, Op. 6 (Excerpts):
• 27 Boëly: 30 Études, Op. 6 (Excerpts): No. 30 in D Major 04:27
• 28 Boëly: 30 Études, Op. 6 (Excerpts): No. 3 in F Major 02:02
• Total Runtime 01:17:26

Info for The Birth of the Étude

The best-known piano studies are the 27 by Chopin, most of them composed in the 1830s. But Chopin did not create the genre: a number of prominent pianist-composers had already established the piano study, or étude, in the decades before Chopin sat down to write his. Although this repertoire is as good as unknown today, it is a treasure-trove of miniature jewels, many of them announcing the dawn of Romanticism in their combination of Classical delicacy and a new harmonic warmth. Anna Petrova-Forster received her first piano lessons at the age of six. After graduating as a soloist in the class of Professor Liuba Entcheva at the Sofia Music Academy, she entered Louis Hiltbrand’s master- class at the Geneva Conservatoire, where she remained until his death. She obtained a second solo diploma at the Lucerne Conservatoire in Hubert Harry’s class. For over two years she worked on various chamber-music programs with Nathan Milstein in London. Anna Petrova-Forster has appeared on radio and television broadcasts as both soloist and chamber musician. Her wish to rediscover the compositions of lesser-known composers from the past has led to recordings of music by such unfamiliar figures as William Baines, Sergei Bortkiewicz, Alexander Grechaninov, Josef Matthias Hauer, August Alexander Klengel and Daniel Steibelt.

Anna Petrova-Forster, piano

Anna Petrova-Forster
was born in St. Petersburg. She began piano lessons at age six in Sofia. She started performing in public at an early age and after obtaining her teaching diploma with honours she obtained her concert diploma in the class of Prof. Ljuba Entcheva at the Sofia Academy of Music. Later she entered the master class of Louis Hiltbrand at the Geneva Conservatory, where she remained until his death. She obtained her soloist’s diploma in the class of Hubert Harry, Lucerne Conservatory.

Anna Petrova performs widely as soloist and chamber musician. Concert tours of “Music of Lockenhaus” have taken her during the past years to New York, Chicago, and the Far East. With the “Chamber Orchestra of Europe” she has played in Vienna with Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko, and they have toured Italy. She has also appeared on radio and television broadcasts.

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