Rarities of Piano Music, Husum 1987 and 1988, vol. 0

CD 1 Adolf von Henselt 1. Etude in D minor Op.2 No.1 2. Etude in D flat major Op.2 No.2 Moritz Moszkowski 3. Etincelles Op.36 No.6 Frédéric Chopin 4. Bolero Op.19 Franz Schubert / Carl Tausig 5. Andantino and Variations Op.84 No.1 Leopold Godowsky 6. The Gardens of Buitenzorg Richard Strauss / Godowsky 7. Ständchen George Gershwin / Earl Wild 8. Summertime Godowsky 9. Elegy (for the left hand alone) Erwin Schulhoff 10. Tango (Cinq Etudes de Jazz) Richard Wagner / Hans von Bülow 11. Paraphrase des Quintetts aus ‘Meistersinger’ Cécile Chaminade 12. Autrefois Op.87 No. 4 Pierre Sancan 13. Caprice romantique (main gauche seule) Florent Schmitt 14. Le cheval de Ferme-l’oeil Op.58 No.3 15. Le parapluie chinois Op.58 No.7 Sergei Rachmaninov 16. Waltz for 6 hands Carl Nielsen 13 pieces from ‘Piano music for young and old’ Op.53 17. No.1 Allegretto 18. No.2 Andantino quasi Allegretto 19. No.3a Allegro scherzoso 20. No.3b Grazioso 21. No.4 Andantino 22. No.5 Allegro giocoso 23. No.6 Poco lamentoso 24. No.7 Marziale 25. No.14 Capriccioso 26. No.15 Adagio espressivo 27. No.17 Largo con fantasia 28. No.19 “Alla Bach” 29. No.21 Marcia di goffo CD 2 Franz Liszt 1. Klavierstück in F sharp major (c. 1867) Claude Debussy 2. Masques Charles-Valentin Alkan Esquisses Op. 63 3. No. 32 4. No. 46 5. No. 45 Liszt 6. Les cloches de G(enève), 1st version Emmanuel Chabrier 7. Air de Ballet 8. Mauresque Karol Szymanowski 9. Valse romantique Mikhail Glinka / Mily Balakirev 10. The Lark Fritz Kreisler / Rachmaninov 11. Liebesleid Jean-Philippe Rameau / Godowsky 12. Elégie John Ireland 13. The Island Spell Rachmaninov / Earl Wild 14. The Floods of Spring Marc-André Hamelin 15. Etude No.12 (Prelude and Fugue) (1984-5) Robert Schumann 16. Abschied (Waldszenen) Heitor Villa-Lobos 17. Ciranda No.4 Joseph Joachim 18. Variationen über ein irisches Elfenlied Rarities of Piano Music © “Rarities of Piano Music” is a festival which has received many superlative notices in the press, such as “probably the most extraordinary piano festival in the world”, or “the most exotic festival which the German cultural landscape can muster”. After almost a quarter of a century we can afford to take a retrospective view as follows: already in the first two years the profile of the festival was very clear, not only in its programme as a whole, but also from the viewpoint of the selection of pieces on the two CDs presented here. It was from the very start a festival which allowed no prejudice in the assessment of the music presented, and wished to help to restore forgotten qualities in their own right. The inaugural concert on 16th August 1987 was given by Michael Ponti, a pianist who had won much respect for his revival of neglected Romantic piano works, and set a benchmark with the very first items in his programme: two Characteristic Studies from Op.95 by Ignaz Moscheles and two Concert Studies from Op.2 by Adolf von Henselt. His programme continued with works by composers including Anton Rubinstein, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Tausig, Moszkowski, Felix Blumenfeld and Wagner-Liszt. During the following evenings one could hear music by Chabrier, Florent Schmitt, Claude Delvincourt, Ignaz Friedman, Albeniz, Busoni, Leopold Godowsky and Alkan, as well as rarely-heard works by Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. This profile was further sharpened in 1988, with performances of works by John Ireland, Sibelius, Nielsen, Langgaard and the Arabesques on Johann Strauss’s “Blue Danube” by Schulz-Evler – music which for a long time, indeed for many decades in the middle of the 20th century, had disappeared from the concert-hall. “Why exactly?”, asked a new generation of enraptured piano enthusiasts, hearing the subtle qualities which are hidden away in these works, and they wanted “more of it, please”, as one would say nowadays. RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2010 CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 299 EAN: 5709499299005 Download BOOKLET (PDF)   Related