Bernstein / Dossin,Alexandre - Piano Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Performed on this recording by Alexandre Dossin, First Prize and Special Prize winner at the 2003 Martha Argerich International Piano Competition, Kabalevsky' highly virtuoso Piano Sonata No. 2 represents the peak of the composer' writing for solo piano. Album Tracks 1. Allegro Non Troppo Ma Con Fuoco 2. Andantino Semplice 3. Vivo - Allegro Molto 4. Allegro Moderato - Festivamente 5. Andante Sostenuto 6. Presto Assai 7. Allegro Con Moto 8. Andante Cantabile 9. Allegro Giocoso 10. Allegro Assai E Lusingando 11. Andantino 12. Presto 13. Allegro Non Troppo - Risoluto 14. Sostenuto 15. Vivace

Bernstein's piano output reflects the various strands of his multifaceted personality, in works as different as Touches (1981) and, at the other end of the scale, his often tender, sentimental Anniversaries. Taken together his piano works form a musical diary tracing the breadth of his experiences and ideas. Four of his Five Anniversaries (1949-51) appear as themes in his violin concerto, the Serenade after Plato's InchSymposium.Inch The personal commemorations he created were not portraits so much as self-portrayals, revealing different aspects of his own multi-faceted personality. To play these works well requires an understanding of the various elements that made up the Bernstein persona. The Italian pianist Michele Tozzetti brings out the heartfelt tenderness of most of these tributes, the Jewish elements and the dance rhythms. In the Anniversary dedicated to Aaron Copland (in Seven Anniversaries, 1943), Tozzetti captures the sound and spirit of the man Bernstein called 'my first friend in New York, my master, my idol, my sage, my shrink, my guide, my counselor, my elder brother, [and] my beloved friend.' The pianist reveals a delicate sense of sonority along with fine dynamic control in For Paul Bowles, and brings an idiomatic edginess to For Sergei Koussevitzky. He also injects youthful vigor into Bernstein's Sonata (1937), a probing work rich in counterpoint, written when the composer was still a student. Also on this recording are Non Troppo Presto, a manuscript discovered in the Leonard Bernstein archive at the Library of Congress; and Touches Chorale, Eight Variations and Coda, commissioned by the Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 1981. It's bluesy chorale is identical to Virgo Blues, written for his daughter, Jamie on her twenty-sixth birthday in 1978. Bernstein dedicated this work 'to my first love, the keyboard'. In Michele Tozzetti's hands, that love is

Drawing on the Chopin model of alternating major and minor keys, as well as on Russian folk melodies, Kabalevsky' 24 Preludes find the composer' writing at it's most distinctive. They are coupled with the early 4 Preludes, in which the influence of Pr. Album Tracks 1. No. 1. Semplice 2. No. 2. Vivo E Leggiero 3. No. 3. Moderato Quasi Andante 4. No. 4. Allegro Molto 5. No. 1. Andantino 6. No. 2. Scherzando 7. No. 3. Vivace 8. No. 4. Andantino 9. No. 5. Andante Sostenuto 10. No. 6. Allegro Molto 11. No. 7. Moderato E Tranquillo 12. No. 8. Andante Non Troppo - Semplice E Cantando 13. No. 9. Allegretto Scherzando 14. No. 10. Non Troppo Allegro, Ma Agitato - Recitando, Rubato 15. No. 11. Vivace Scherzando 16. No. 12. Adagio 17. No. 13. Allegro Non Troppo 18. No. 14. Prestissimo Possibile 19. No. 15. Allegro Marcato 20. No. 16. Allegro Tenebroso 21. No. 17. Andantino Tranquillo 22. No. 18. Largamente Con Gravita 23. No. 19. Allegretto 24. No. 20. Andantino Semplice 25. No. 21. Festivamente (Non Troppo Allegro) 26. No. 22. Scherzando. Non Troppo Allegro 27. No. 23. Andante Sostenuto 28. No. 24. Allegro Feroce 29. Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in G Major, a Summer Morning on the Lawn 30. Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C Major, Becoming a Young Pioneer 31. Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in E minor, An Evening Song Beyond the River 32. Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in a Major, at the Young Pioneer Summer Camp 33. Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in C minor, the Story of a Hero 34. Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in F Major, a Feast of Labour