David Fray - Piano Concertos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With Erik Satie, the connection between the beguilingly simple music and the sometimes very strange titles remains enigmatic What is one to imagine by InchWithered EmbryosInch, InchPenultimate ThoughtsInch or InchAutomatic DescriptionsInch? Steffen Schleiermacher does not even attempt an interpretation. In what is now the 8th installment of his Satie recording, he let's the associations work that the title, texts and playing instructions trigger. The result is music of that captivating clarity that Satie's avant-garde contemporaries admired so much in the eccentric maverick. The InchcyclesInch collected here are mostly in three parts and all of them are surprisingly short, some move only in the five-tone range and seem to be almost children's pieces... And sometimes Satie borrows from deceased colleagues - and misleads both pianist and audience again The motif of the Inchfamous mazurka by SchubertInch is - of course - neither by Schubert, nor is it a mazurka... InchSports et DivertissementsInch is completely out of the ordinary Satie composed the total of 22 miniatures on commission as musical accompaniment to a collection of copperplate engravings by a famous fashion illustrator of his time. The pictures illustrate the leisure pleasures of the better-off, from tennis to sailing, and indeed one finds many a correspondence in the music - not without the usual eye-twinkling the collection opens with an Inchunappetizing choraleInch... For all the supposed simplicity of the music, Satie's manuscripts are true masterpieces of calligraphy, which, together with the curious playing instructions (Inchwithout blushing of the fingerInch - Inchfrom the tip of the eyes and held back in advanceInch), do not pass an artist like Steffen Schleiermacher by without leaving a trace. Incidentally, Satie expressly forbade the reading aloud of his bizarre texts - under threat of legal c

The music on this album gives rise to two intriguing questions. Firstly, are these concertos original Bachian creations? Secondly, should they be played on modern pianos. The two issues are in fact closely linked by the idea of transcription. Four of the keyboard concertos recorded here derive either from works originally composed by Bach for other instruments (this is true of the Concerto in Cminor, BWV1062 for two harpsichords - a transcription of the celebrated and exceptional Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV1043), or from works by Bach of which we are more or less aware, but whose initial versions have not survived. This applies to the Concerto in C major, BWV1061 and the Concerto in C minor, BWV1060. As for the Concerto in A minor, BWV1065 for four harpsichords, it is a reworking of the tenth concerto from Vivaldi's L'Estro armonico, op.3, for four violins.

David Fray - David Fray Plays Schubert & Liszt [COMPACT DISCS] date 08/22/2006