Rarities of Piano Music at the Schloss vor Husum 2018, Vol. 32

Claude Debussy
1. Ballade

Gabriel Dupont
from “La maison dans les dunes”
2. 1. Dans les dunes par un clair matin
3. 10. Houles

Louis Vierne
from 12 Préludes op.36
4. No.7 Evocation d’un jour d’angoisse
5. No.12 Seul…

Pancho Vladigerov
from 10 Impressions, op.9
6. No.8 Passion

Charles-Valentin Alkan
7. Le Grillon, op.60 bis (Nocturne No.4)

Reynaldo Hahn
from “Le Rossignol éperdu”
8. No.31 En caïque
9. No.51 Adieux au soir tombant

Valery Arzumanov
from 27 Pieces for Piano, op.74
10. To a Brighter Future
11. Forgotten and Abandoned
12. Dedication to Mahler
13. Before the Exam

Leonid Desyatnikov
14. From “Songs from the Bukovina”

Jean Louis Nicodé
“Ein Liebesleben”, op.22
15. No.6 Reue
16. No.8 Erinnerung

Robert Fuchs
from Sonata No.1 in G flat major, op.19
17. 4. Allegro molto – Quasi presto

Anton Arensky
from 24 Morceaux caractéristiques, op.36
18. No.12 Intermezzo

Rachmaninov/Pompa-Baldi
19. Vocalise, op.34 no.14 (1912, rev. 1915) Arr. by Roberto Piana
20. La Rosa

Gabriel Grovlez
21. Sérénade, from “Fancies”

Piazzolla/Piana/Pompa-Baldi
22. Libertango

HUSUM CD 2018 ©
By Peter Grove

The 2018 Husum festival of piano rarities had another strong programme and the usual support of patrons from many countries. It continued to include shorter recitals from “Young Explorers” as well as the full evening concerts established in 1987.

We begin with an early work by Debussy, written 1890-91 but published in 1903. The composer had worked in Russia as a piano teacher and house pianist for Tchaikovsky’s mentor Nadezhda von Meck. His first title for the piece was “Ballade slave”, reflecting the influence of composers such as Glinka or Borodin. The simple melody at the start does have a certain folk quality, but the harmonies are already recognisable as the Debussy of “Suite bergamasque”. Therefore when the piece was published later he decided to adopt the simpler title of “Ballade” to emphasise its narrative quality and connection with the models of Chopin.

Gabriel Dupont was born in Caen. He studied music with his father, who was an organist, and with Widor and Massenet. His early successes included a second prize in the Prix de Rome, and his opera La Cabrera, which won first prize in a publisher’s competition and had several successful productions around Europe. A collection of songs showed a real gift for wordsetting and piano writing. His ten-movement cycle “La maison dans les dunes” was written at Arcachon in the Gironde département, a coastal resort south-west of Bordeaux where he spent the winter for his health. The first piece portrays the early morning in the dunes with a melody accompanied by gently oscillating chords, later building to a climax marked “joyful”, possibly as the sun breaks through. The last is a more stormy piece (houles = swells) which is inspired by a stormy sea.

Louis Vierne is best remembered for his organ music, including six symphonies. His nearblindness did not hinder a distinguished career, including the rare award of titular organist at Notre-Dame. César Franck taught him harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, and after his death Vierne assisted his successor Widor in the organ class. His pupils included Marcel Dupré and Nadia Boulanger. Vierne’s music went far beyond the organ repertoire and included chamber music, songs and piano music. “Evocation of a day of anguish” possibly reflects the composer’s periods of depression brought on by frustration at his disability. “Alone…” is an agitated and powerful piece with obsessive repeated chords in its middle section.

Pancho Vladigerov was one of the most important Bulgarian composers of the 20th century. He studied first in Sofia and then in Berlin. While in Berlin he worked for the great theatre director Max Reinhardt, who also collaborated with Korngold and gave him his first opportunity in Hollywood with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Vladigerov returned to Sofia and became a professor of piano, chamber music and composition at the State Academy of Music. He also toured widely as a pianist. His style owes something to Rachmaninov and Richard Strauss, but he has an individual sound which integrates Bulgarian influences with Romantic harmonies. “Passion” from his set of ten “Impressions” opens with some exotic parallel chords for both hands, before settling into a more relaxed tonal style for the main faster section. Here a melody in the high register is introduced while the chords continue in the left hand. The dynamics range from a triple-forte to a quadruple pianissimo at the end.

RELEASE DATE: August 2019

CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 839

EAN: 5709499839003