MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN (B1961)

 

Études

 

12 Études in all the minor keys

1 No 1 in A minor Triple Étude, after Chopin [2'15]

2 No 2 in E minor Coma Berenices [2'51]

3 No 3 in B minor after Paganini-Liszt [4'59]

4 No 4 in C minor Étude à mouvement perpétuellement semblable, after Alkan [3'59]

5 No 5 in G minor Toccata grottesca [4'38]

6 No 6 in D minor Esercizio per pianoforte, Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti [3'31]

7 No 7 in E flat minor after Tchaikovsky, for the left hand alone [5'01]

8 No 8 in B flat minor Erlkönig, after Goethe [4'44]

9 No 9 in F minor after Rossini [3'48]

10 No 10 in F sharp minor after Chopin [2'01]

11 No 11 in C sharp minor Minuetto [6'27]

12 No 12 in A flat minor Prelude and Fugue [6'09]

13 Little Nocturne [2'15]

 

Con intimissimo sentimento

14 No 1: Ländler I [2'21]

15 No 4: Album Leaf [2'12]

16 No 5: Music Box [2'00]

17 No 6: After Pergolesi [3'49]

18 No 7: Berceuse, in tempore belli [2'34]

 

Theme and Variations ‘Cathy’s Variations’

19 Theme Con semplicità, eleganza e tenerezza [1'55]

20 Variation 1 Più mosso, corrente [1'06]

21 Variation 2 L’istesso tempo, ma cantabile [1'28]

22 Variation 3 Molto più moderato, poco rubato [2'55]

23 Variation 4 Poco animato ma cantabile e senza prestezza [1'40]

24 Envoi A capriccio [1'33]

 

Hamelin plays Hamelin: a glimpse into the fabulously bizarre musical mind of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of today. The pianophile population has been clamouring for this disc for some time.

 

Marc-André Hamelin’s 12 Études, written over a period of nearly twenty-five years, have already achieved cult status by reputation as pianistic challenges beyond the reach of most human fingers. They are also highly-wrought character pieces. That they will immediately take their place in the concert repertoire of any pianist who thinks themself equal to them is indicated by their contemporaenous publication by Peters Edition New York.

 

The disc is completed by more of Hamelin’s compositions: the quiet and reflective Con intissimo sentimento, and the lovepoem ‘Cathy’s Variations’. As a whole it is a detailed portrait of this most talented and complex musician.

 

Hyperion CDA67789