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Track(s) taken from CDA67399

Four Polish Dances

composer
1926

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: August 2002
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: June 2003
Total duration: 9 minutes 39 seconds

Cover artwork: A day of Celebration in Old Russia (1884) by Nicolai Dmitrieff-Orenburgsky (1838-1898)
Sotheby’s Picture Library
 

Reviews

‘Such elusive music requires a pianist of rare sensitivity and dexterity and in Marc-André Hamelin Szymanowski has been granted a true champion. A marvel of stylistic inwardness and pianistic refinement, his performances capture the Mazurkas’ alternating whimsy and rigour to perfection’ (Gramophone)

‘Marc-André Hamelin is a near-ideal advocate of this repertoire; alive to every nuance in these scores’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Perfect territory for Marc-André Hamelin’s stylish and evocative playing’ (The Independent)

‘Hamlin does, I think, set a new benchmark … a very notable disc. If you don’t already know this great music, I strongly urge you to buy it’ (International Record Review)

‘Hamelin is an astonishing virtuoso, yet this music demonstrates that the French-Canadian pianist is much more than a purveyor of keyboard fireworks. His immediate advocacy of the mazurkas, the Valse Romantique and Four Polish Dances should win more friends for this unjustly neglected byway of 20th-century piano repertoire’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Their highly original, sensual harmonies and sophisticated writing demand a refined pianist of imagination to make a persuasive case. Hamelin gets inside each miniature to do just that, and in beautifully recorded sound’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Marc-André Hamelin plays them with fantasy and rhythmic snap’ (The Irish Times)

‘Marc-André Hamelin defines the character of each piece vividly, readily tuning into their dark soulfulness’ (The Evening Standard)

«On ne pouvait s’attendre à plus agréable surprise que ce programme présentant les dernières œvres pour piano du compositeur polonaise Karol Szymanowski» (Répertoire, France)
The Four Polish Dances were written in 1926 for a publisher, Oxford University Press, for an anthology entitled Folk Dances of the World. These four miniatures—a mazurka, krakowiak, oberek and polonaise—show a lustier, less radical embrace of Polish folk-music than the Opp 50 and 62 Mazurkas: the Oberek in particular has an exhilaratingly earthy vigour.

from notes by Martin Anderson © 2003

En 1926, ces Quatre danses polonaises furent conçues pour un éditeur, Oxford University Press, en guise de contribution à une anthologie intitulée Folk Dances of the World. Ces quatre pièces miniatures, mazurka, krakowiak, oberek et polonaise, s’illustrent par une optique plus gaie, moins radicale, de la musique folklorique polonaise en regard des Mazurkas Opp. 50 et 62. L’Oberek en particulier jouit d’une vigueur solide, tourbillonnante, grisante.

extrait des notes rédigées par Martin Anderson © 2003
Français: Isabelle Battioni

1926 folgten die Four Polish Dances [Vier polnische Tänze], die für einen Verleger geschaffen wurden. In diesem Fall war es für eine von Oxford University Press herausgegebene Anthologie unter dem Titel Folk Dances of the World [Volkstänze aus aller Welt]. Diese vier Miniaturen—eine Mazurka, ein Krakowiak, ein Oberek und eine Polonäse—stellen im Vergleich mit den Mazurkas op. 50 und op. 62 eine ungezügeltere, weniger radikale Umarmung polnischer Volksmusik dar: besonders der Oberek hat eine aufregende urtümliche Energie.

aus dem Begleittext von Martin Anderson © 2003
Deutsch: Elke Hockings

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