Beethoven / Rieks / Prokofjew

Milestones in piano literature on the debut CD of the seventeen-year-old pianist and composer Franz Ferdinand August Rieks: Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7 as well as Rieks' piano work Op. 48 – highly demanding works from three centuries recorded live as a virtuoso and aesthetically elaborate setting.

Brimming with energy and executed with a controlled and delicate touch, this frenzy concludes with an improvisation of the interpreter that is melancholy and rich in tone colours. Rieks seems to know every trick in the book. Be it at the Steinway Piano Competition or in New York where his piano work Op. 48 was awarded the first prize of the International Composition Competition New York, or be it at the Lucerne Festival, the Young Pianists Festival Amsterdam or the Berlin Philharmonic: Rieks' artistic creative power as a composing pianist or performing composer promises a brilliant future and makes you now delve in the highest level of piano playing.

Both as a composer and as a pianist, I work delicately on the sound. To me, this is not a question of showing musical aesthetic conflicts but of leaving them behind me by means of creative tonal work inspired by all aspects in order to move the musicians, the audience and myself naturally through tangible demanding music. (Franz Ferdinand August Rieks)