This is a rarity—
Le mouvement perpétuel Op 91 No 3. Not only is the printed music obscure (Martin might well be the first pianist to play this piece in over a century) but the form is far from common in keyboard literature. Its only precedent would seem to be the most famous
moto perpetuo for the piano, the final movement of Weber’s Piano Sonata No 1 in C major, Op 24. Mendelssohn wrote a
perpetuum mobile for his friend Moscheles in 1826 (his Op 119), clearly modelled on Weber’s, but this was not published until 1873. Alkan, Busoni and Godowsky left us isolated examples, but others are few and far between. So Herz’s note-spinner, though it too is derived from Weber, deserves our attention. It is also a tour de force—and fun.
from notes by Jeremy Nicholas © 2008
