Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from CDA66459

Le banjo 'Fantaisie grotesque, an American sketch', RO22 Op 15

composer
? 1854/5; published in New York in 1855; alternative title: Le caprice américain; dedicated to Richard Hoffman

Philip Martin (piano)
Recording details: September 1990
St Michael's Church, Highgate, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: June 1991
Total duration: 4 minutes 6 seconds

Cover artwork: The Snake Charmer. Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
 

Reviews

‘A very enjoyable disc indeed’ (The Good CD Guide)

‘The best Gottschalk disk currently available’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘An important and recommendable issue … to be welcomed wholeheartedly’ (CDReview)
With its vamp-till-ready passages and jaunty cakewalk strut, The Banjo is Gottschalk’s exuberant portrait of a virtuoso banjo player in a minstrel show. Like many other of his compositions, the pianistic difficulties increase in the final pages, marked prestissimo, with their echoes of Stephen Foster’s De Camptown Races, published just four years earlier. The piece is dedicated to Richard Hoffman.

from notes by Jeremy Nicholas © 1990

Avec ses passages d’improvisations jusqu’à une version parfaite et son allure crâneuse, Le Banjo est le portrait exubérant d’un joueur virtuose de banjo dans un spectacle de musiciens de répertoire nègre. Comme beaucoup d’autres des compositions de Gottschalk, les difficultés pianistiques augmentent dans les pages finales, qui sont marquées prestissimo, avec leur écho de De Camptown Races de Stephen Foster, qui avait été publié quatre ans auparavant. Le morceau est dédié à Richard Hoffman.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jeremy Nicholas © 1990
Français: Alain Midoux

Das Stück mit seinen zur Improvisation vorgesehenen Passagen und seinem kecken Cakewalk-Rhythmus ist Gottschalks Porträt eines virtuosen Banjospielers in einer amerikanischen Minstrel-Truppe. Wie bei vielen anderen seiner Kompositionen nimmt der pianistische Schwierigkeitsgrad auf den prestissimo bezeichneten letzten Seiten zu, die Anklänge an Stephen Fosters gerade vier Jahre zuvor erschienene Komposition De Camptown Races enthalten. Das Stück ist Richard Hoffman gewidmet.

aus dem Begleittext von Jeremy Nicholas © 1990
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

Other albums featuring this work

Gottschalk: The Complete Solo Piano Music
CDS44451/88CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...