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Track(s) taken from CDA67803

Notturno 'La réminiscence de Chopin', Op 48 No 1

composer
published in 1894

Jonathan Plowright (piano)
Recording details: August 2009
Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Jeremy Hayes
Engineered by Ben Connellan
Release date: February 2010
Total duration: 5 minutes 56 seconds

Cover artwork: Adaptation of the cover illustration for Franz Bendel's Hommage à Chopin, Trautwein, Berlin (1867).
 

Reviews

‘A fascinating collection, brilliantly dispatched by Plowright’ (The Mail on Sunday)

‘All of these multifaceted offerings (jewels as well as gemstones) show Jonathan Plowright as beguiling in intimacy … as he is magisterial in virtuosity. Such quality will leave lesser pianists bemused, as as on Plowright's earlier superb Hyperion recordings he has been immaculately recorded’ (Gramophone)

‘Mompou's 11th variation is the sublimest track on the disc. It is in places like these that Plowright shows his real qualities as a virtuoso, especially his clarity of texture and instinct for phrasing. Warmly recommended’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Jonathan Plowright provides a fascinating conspectus of how Chopin’s example has sparked ideas in others … this disc is a delight’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Fascinating, seldom-trodden paths of the vast 19th- and 20th-century piano literature that rarely find their way onto disc … Plowright's dazzling playing can't be faulted’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Jonathan Plowright has assembled a towering monument to the Chopin style’ (Audiophile Audition, USA)
The Bohemian Eduard Nápravník (1839–1916) was central to Russian musical life from his arrival in St Petersburg in 1861 until his death. He was the conductor of the Imperial Opera from 1869 to 1916 giving the premieres of dozens of important works including operas by Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. He composed four symphonies, four operas, much chamber music and many piano works. (You can hear his Concerto symphonique and Fantaisie russe in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series on CDA67511.) Nápravník’s Notturno, subtitled ‘La réminiscence de Chopin’, is the first of his two pieces Op 48 (No 2 is entitled Scherzo), published in 1894. Its main theme in D flat major (strikingly similar to Ketèlbey’s Bells across the meadows) leads to a more animated central section in A major before returning via a series of Chopinesque modulations to the maddeningly catchy first subject.

from notes by Jeremy Nicholas © 2010

Le Bohémien Eduard Nápravník (1839–1916) fut une figure centrale de la vie musicale russe, et ce de son arrivée à Saint-Pétersbourg, en 1861, à sa mort. Chef d’orchestre de l’Opéra impérial de 1869 à 1916, il assura les premières de dizaines d’œuvres importantes, dont des opéras de Moussorgski, Rimski-Korsakov et Tchaïkovski. Outre quatre symphonies et autant d’opéras, il composa beaucoup de musique de chambre, mais aussi de nombreuses pièces pour piano. (Vous pouvez entendre son Concerto symphonique et sa Fantaisie russe sur le disque CDA67511 édité par Hyperion dans le cadre de sa série consacrée au Concerto pour piano romantique.) Son Notturno, sous-titré «La réminiscence de Chopin», est la première des deux pièces op. 48 (la no 2 s’intitule Scherzo) qu’il publia en 1894. Son thème principal en ré bémol majeur (étrangement similaire aux Bells across the meadows de Ketèlbey) mène à une section centrale en la majeur, davantage animée, puis revient au premier sujet, accrocheur à vous rendre fou, via une série de modulations chopinesques.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jeremy Nicholas © 2010
Français: Hypérion

Der aus Böhmen stammende Eduard Nápravník (1839–1916) spielte von seiner Ankunft in St. Petersburg 1861 bis zu seinem Tod eine zentrale Rolle im Musikleben Russlands. Von 1869 bis 1916 war er Dirigent der Kaiserlichen Oper. Während dieser Zeit leitete er Dutzende von Premieren bedeutender Werke, darunter Opern von Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakow und Tschaikowsky. Er schrieb vier Symphonien, vier Opern, eine Menge Kammermusik und viele Klavierwerke. (Man kann sein Concerto symphonique und seine Fantaisie russe auf CDA67511 im Rahmen von Hyperion Romantic Concertos hören.) Nápravníks Notturno mit dem Untertitel „La réminiscence de Chopin“ ist das erste von zwei Stücken op. 48 (Nr. 2 trägt den Titel Scherzo), die 1894 veröffentlicht wurden. Sein Hauptthema in Des-Dur wird abgelöst durch einen bewegteren Mittelteil in A-Dur und kehrt dann über eine Reihe von chopinesken Modulationen zum Ohrwurm des eingängigen ersten Themas zurück.

aus dem Begleittext von Jeremy Nicholas © 2010
Deutsch: Ludwig Madlener

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