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Track(s) taken from CDA67349

Danse ossianique, RO64 Op 12

composer
? 1850; published in Paris in 1851: alternative catalogue number: RO63

Philip Martin (piano)
Recording details: May 2002
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: January 2003
Total duration: 3 minutes 40 seconds
 

Reviews

‘Brilliant and technically awesome … Philip Martin is never less than an extremely able and charming guide to this curious repertoire’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘There is a poignant period flavour to this music, which Martin captures with the utmost sensibility’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘It's impossible to listen to this disc and not beam with pleasure … real melodic charm, surprising harmonic progressions, and enough sensuality and humour to put a kick in the greyest of January days. The recorded sound is gorgeous’ (The Times)

‘Martin once again reveals his mastery of Gottschalk’s special brand of refined sensuality … for Gottschalk’s growing band of admirers, this is an essential purchase’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Philip Martin has the technical resources to do [Gottschalk] justice with straight-faced ease’ (The Irish Times)

‘Finely played and beautifully recorded’ (Pianist)

‘Volume 6 maintains the same impressive standards set in Philip Martin’s five previous Gottschalk releases on Hyperion … If you’ve been collecting this series, don’t stop now. A delectable disc’ (Classics Today)

‘Philip Lane is perfectly suited to Gottschalk's music and his interpretations are well nigh unsurpassable. The recording is firm and very realist with a touch of brittleness at the top. In sum, this is another gorgeous piano music collection from the underrated American composer’ (Classical.net)
This is a revised and retitled version of Gottschalk’s Op 1, his Polka de salon, composed in 1844 and published in Paris two years later (featured on CD 5 of this series). For notes on Ossian, the ‘legendary Gallic poet’ (in reality, the eighteenth-century Scottish poet James Macpherson), the reader is referred to CD 4 of this series where Gottschalk’s two Ossian Ballades are discussed. Many of Gottschalk’s idiomatic harmonies and figurations are already present, albeit modestly, in the Danse ossianique, a slight but pretty nod to Chopin—the favoured key of A flat, a merry triplet motif, brilliant runs in octaves and repeated-note passages. There is little Caledonian about it and indeed, as noted in CD 5 by Gottschalk’s biographer S Frederick Starr, ‘if the bass line were changed to a habanera rhythm, the piece as a whole would be transformed into a jaunty Caribbean dance’.

from notes by Jeremy Nicholas © 2003

Il s’agit d’une version révisée et rebaptisée de l’opus 1 de Gottschalk, sa Polka de salon composée en 1844, publiée à Paris deux ans plus tard (elle figure dans le CD 5 de la présente anthologie). Pour plus de détails sur Ossian, le «légendaire poète gaélique» (en réalité, le poète écossais du xviiie siècle James Macpherson), le lecteur se reportera au CD 4 de la présente anthologie, où les deux Ossian Ballades de Gottschalk sont évoquées. Les harmonies et figurations idiomatiques du compositeur sont déjà largement—bien que modestement—présentes dans la Danse ossianique, hommage à Chopin sans grandes prétentions mais charmant, avec sa tonalité favorite de la bémol, son motif joyeux en triolets, ses brillantes gammes en octaves et ses passages en notes répétées. La pièce n’a pas grand-chose d’écossais, et, à vrai dire, comme le fait remarquer le biographe de Gottschalk, S. Frederick Starr, dans le CD 5, «il suffirait de donner un rythme de habanera à la ligne de basse pour que la pièce tout entière soit transformée en une joyeuse danse des Caraïbes».

extrait des notes rédigées par Jeremy Nicholas © 2003
Français: Josée Bégaud

Dies ist eine überarbeitete und umbenannte Version von Gottschalks op. 1, seiner Polka de salon, komponiert im Jahre 1844 und publiziert in Paris zwei Jahre später (auf Nr. 5 dieses Zyklus’ vorliegend). Ausführungen zu Ossian, dem „legendären gallischen Poeten“ (in Wirklichkeit der schottische Dichter des 18. Jahrhunderts, James Macpherson), befinden sich in dem Beiheft zu CD Nr. 4 in dieser Reihe, in dem die beiden Ossian Ballades von Gottschalk besprochen sind. Viele der idiomatischen Harmonien und Figurationen Gottschalks sind schon, wenn auch weniger stark ausgeprägt, in dem Danse ossianique präsent: ein flüchtiger, aber hübscher Verweis auf Chopin—die bevorzugte Tonart As-Dur, ein fröhliches Triolenmotiv, brillante Läufe in Oktaven und Tonrepetitionspassagen. In der Tat hat das Stück wenig kaledonisches, und wie der Gottschalk-Biograph S. Frederick Starr in Nr. 5 anmerkt, „wenn die Basslinie in einen Habanera-Rhythmus umgewandelt würde, dann wäre das ganze Stück umgestaltet in einen munteren karibischen Tanz“.

aus dem Begleittext von Jeremy Nicholas © 2003
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Gottschalk: The Complete Solo Piano Music
CDS44451/88CDs Boxed set (at a special price) — Download only
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