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Track(s) taken from CDA67515

Habanera

composer
1885

Angela Hewitt (piano)
Recording details: June 2004
Das Kulturzentrum Grand Hotel, Dobbiaco, Italy
Produced by Ludger Böckenhoff
Engineered by Ludger Böckenhoff
Release date: February 2006
Total duration: 4 minutes 35 seconds
 

Reviews

‘As to Hewitt's performances, they are as affectionate, warm, lyrical and charming as one could wish, underlining but not exaggerating Chabrier's deliciously predictable unpredictability’ (Gramophone)

‘Hewitt is at her best here, teasing out the yearning harmonies and shy cadences with a persuasive rubato’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘It is very fresh-face playing, bringing out, also, Chabrier's acknowledged debt to the French Baroque keyboard giants, while even Bach seems to hang over the gigue-like Scherzo-valse … wit and charm are in abundance’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Angela Hewitt, in one of her best recordings to date, has captured Chabrier's musical spirit perfectly’ (International Record Review)

‘Pianists have missed some treats by neglecting Chabrier’s piano music. Angela Hewitt plays this refreshing selection with the same poetry, elegance and dancing touch that made her other French discs for Hyperion so special. The ten Pièces pittoresques take pride of place: dominated by sunshine, delightfully frisky rhythms and an early French Impressionist haze. Fed up of grey skies? Buy this disc and it’s already spring’ (The Times)

‘If you don't know Chabrier's piano music, then this is an ideal selection of his best (and best-known) works played with exactly the right amount of tenderness, Gallic wit, verve, and—the most important ingredient of all—charm’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Hewitt is in excellent form throughout … well worth it, I'd say’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘In terms of recording, performance, and production, another success for the Hewitt-Hyperion collaboration’ (MusicWeb International)

‘Perhaps Angela Hewitt's freshly minted, sharply honed interprestations will inspire recitalists to dust off these unsung treasures’ (Classics Today)
The Habanera, like the tango with which it shares the same rhythm, is a voluptuous, indeed lascivious Spanish dance borrowed from Cuba (La Habana is the Spanish name for the island’s capital). Its principal theme is simple, but it reappears in an unexpected modulation in E major (the work is in D flat) and is then embellished with an ingenious counter-melody in the left hand—with the happiest of results.

from notes by Jean-Paul Sévilla © 2006
English: Roland Smithers

La Habanera est, comme le tango, dont elle affecte le même rythme, une danse voluptueuse, voire lascive empruntée par l’Espagne à Cuba (La Habana est le nom espagnol de la capitale de l’île). Le thème principal en est simple, mais il réapparaîtra dans une modulation inattendue en mi majeur (la tonalité de l’œuvre est ré bémol) puis s’agrémentera par la suite d’un ingénieux contre-chant à la main gauche du plus heureux effet.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jean-Paul Sévilla © 2006

Die Habanera ist wie der Tango, dessen Rhythmus sie teilt, ein sinnlicher, ja lasziver spanischer Tanz, eine Anleihe aus Kuba (La Habana ist der spanische Name der Hauptstadt der Insel). Das Hauptthema ist einfach, doch es kehrt in einer unerwarteten E-Dur-Modulation zurück (das Stück steht in Des-Dur) und wird dann durch eine geschickte Gegenmelodie in der linken Hand auf wunderbarste Art und Weise ausgeschmückt.

aus dem Begleittext von Jean-Paul Sévilla © 2006
Deutsch: Bettina Reinke-Welsh

Other albums featuring this work

Chabrier: Piano Music
This album is not yet available for downloadSACDA67515Super-Audio CD — Deleted
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