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Review: Gramophone
Review: BBCmusic
Review: Pianist

Edvard Grieg
1. Dance from Jølster, Op. 17 No. 5 (1870)

Geirr Tveitt
2. Arvesylv (Family Silver)

Christian Sinding
3. Impromptu, Op. 31 No. 4 (1896)

Jean Sibelius
Sonata in F major, Op. 12 (1893)
4. Allegro molto
5. Andantino
6. Vivacissimo

Belshazzar’s Feast, Op. 51 (1907)
7. Oriental March
8. Solitude
9. Night Music
10. Khadra’s Dance

Frédéric Chopin
11. Mazurka in A minor, Op. posth. (1846/47)

Aleksander Michalowski
12. Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 17

Ignaz Friedman
13. Passacaglia, Op. 44 (1911)

Leo Ornstein
Sonata No. 4 (1924)
14. Moderato con moto
15. Semplice
16. Lento
17. Vivo

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Fairy Tale Pictures Op. 3 (1910)
18. No. 2. The Princess and the Pea
19. No. 7. The Fairy Tale’s Epilogue

Husum CD 2013 ©
The Husum festival of piano rarities thrives on its
variety of music, but that feature can make the
annual CD something of a random selection. The
live conditions can sometimes make it hard to
include complete works with several movements.
Fortunately this recording has two sonatas in full, as
well as an distinct emphasis on Scandinavian music.

Artur Pizarro brought a new feature to his recital
which intrigued the critics: instead of employing a
page-turner, he had put all his scores on to an iPad.
Whether that becomes common practice will depend
on how far pianists can trust the lifetime of batteries.
We hear two pieces from the seven Märchenbilder
by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of the most
remarkable musical prodigies of all time. He wrote
his first piano sonata when he was only eleven, and
his official Opus 1, a piano trio, was first performed
two years later. A second piano sonata, Op.2,
followed: it was dedicated to his teacher Zemlinksy
and first performed by Artur Schnabel.
The first six pieces in the suite portray well-known
fairy-tales. No.2 is concerned with the Princess and
the Pea, the legend about a true princess who can
detect a pea under several mattresses. From the start
we hear the sophisticated style of the young
composer, with whole-tone scales and advanced
harmonies. The final piece is a tender Epilogue,
again using highly chromatic chords based on whole
tones. It settles later into a more restful E major
section (1:06), before the harmonic style of the
opening section returns, and a peaceful close.

RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2014

CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 739

EAN: 5709499739006

Product Type

CD, MP3, FLAC