Only in the silence can music touch a chord within us, and create a distant echo. And it is through the silence that the piano can open and blossom with it incomporable voice, and the vibration of its strings melt into melody. Since the invention of the modern pianoforte in the 18th century, composers have again and again been inspired by its special sensibilities, and the capacity of this instrument to encompass the slightest expressive nuances and translate them into sound.
On this CD you will find a collection of the loveliest piano melodies in musical history: whether the “Adagio Sostenuto” from Beethovens Moonlight Sonata, or the “Largo” from his Piano Concerto, whether Liszt´s “Liebestraum” or Schumann´s “Träumerei”, the “Adagio” from Grieg´s Piano Concerto, or Chopin´s “Nocturen”, all show this instrument has struck a chord in these sompoers (taken form the original linernotes)
A great album for contemplation and solitude.
Tracklist:
01. Alfredo Perl: Adagio Sostenuto (Mondscheinsonate) (Beethoven) 6.07
02. Lisa Smirnova & Jena Philharmonic Orchestra (David Montgomery): Largo Piano Concerto No 1 Op. 15 Beethoven) 10.44
03. Ricardo Castro: Adagio Piano Sonata KV 332 (Mozart) 4.17
04. Carmen Piazzini: Adagio Piano Sonata No 27 Hob. XVI (Haydn) 5.03
05. Nadja Rubanenko: Sehr langsam – Kreisleriana Op. 16 (Schumann) 4.16
06. Alfredo Perl & Orquesta Filarmónica De Gran Canaria (Adrian Leaper): Adagio – Piano Concerto Op. 16 (Grieg) 6.56
07. Carmen Piazzini: Danza del moza donosa (Ginastera) 3.30
08. Carmen Piazzini: Cancion de las Venusinas (Piazzolla) 2.10
09. Arkady Sevidov: Barcarolle The Seasons Op. 37b (Tchaikovsky) 5.20
10. Ricardo Castro: Nocturne #1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 9-1 (Chopin) 5.39
11. Michael Krücker: Liebestraum Op. 62 No. 3 (Liszt) 4.43
12. Andreas Bach: Träumerei (Schumann) 2.20
13. Vladimir Mishtchuk & Russian Philharmonic Orchestra (Samuel Friedmann): Adagio sostenuto Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 18 (Rachmaninov) 11.37
Maurizio Pollini (Born: January 5, 1942 – Milan, Italy):
of our time and has appeared all over the world with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. In later years, he made appearances as a conductor, leading concerts from the keyboard and also mounting the podium and taking charge in the opera pit.
public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his other musical contemporaries (including Robert Schumann). In 1835, Chopin obtained French citizenship. After a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska from 1836 to 1837, he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer Amantine Dupin (known by her pen name, George Sand). A brief and unhappy visit to Majorca with Sand in 1838–39 would prove one of his most productive periods of composition. In his final years, he was supported financially by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. For most of his life, Chopin was in poor health. He died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39, probably of pericarditis aggravated by tuberculosis.
Ellen Ballon (October 6, 1898 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – December 21, 1969 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada) was a child prodigy and at the age of six, in the inaugural year of the McGill Cons (1904), won the first director’s scholarship awarded at that school. She studied there with Clara Lichtenstein. As a child Ballon was praised by Josef Hofmann (whose pupil she became later, in Switzerland and again in New York), Adele aus der Ohe, and Raoul Pugno. Artur Rubinstein is said to have declared her ‘the greatest pianistic genius I have ever met’. Following a farewell recital at Royal Victoria College in Montreal 27 Dec 1906 she was sent to New York to study with Rafael Joseffy. She was a child when she made her New York debut in March 1910, playing concertos of Mendelssohn (G minor) and Beethoven (C major) with the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch. She continued her studies in New York with Josef Hofmann and in Vienna with Wilhelm Backhaus, and when she returned from Europe to play with the New York Philharmonic under Josef Stransky (Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 4, 31 Jan 1921), she was a fully developed concert pianist. However, she continued her studies with Alberto Jonas in New York until at least 1925 and appeared again with the New York Philharmonic in the 1925-6, 1929-30, and 1932-3 seasons.
composer’s direction. Ballon’s playing was rhythmically secure and, at its best, full of excitement. If her concert career fell somewhat short of the promise shown by her prodigious childhood, it may have been that she was not under pressure to prove herself – a stimulus which most successful pianists experience. She became a person of considerable wealth and was popular in social and artistic circles. In later life she made important contributions to the Faculty of Music at McGill University (where she established a piano scholarship in her own name in 1928) as a philanthropist, as a fund-raiser, and, for a short time, as a teacher. (by thecanadianencyclopedia.com)
Larghetto (A flat major): a work of “undescribable beauty”, this music was inspired by Chopin’s distant idolization of Konstancja Gładkowska. The main theme (the “A” section) is introduced by the piano after an orchestral introduction and is later repeated twice and again, at measure 82 (the start of the coda), is enhanced by the sublime entrance of the bassoon in canon, followed by the bassoon transitioning to a counter-melody.
Only in the silence can music touch a chord within us, and create a distant echo. And it is through the silence that the piano can open and blossom with it incomparable voice, and the vibration of it strings melt into melody.
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