Fernando De Luca - Handel: The Bergamo manuscript - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The great American composer, George Crumb's most recent compositions have been two large piano compositions, InchMetamorphoses, Books 1 and 2Inch, completed in 2019. Volume 19 of Bridge's Complete Crumb Edition, a series of recordings supervised by the composer himself, is made up entirely of Metamorphoses Book 1, performed by Crumb specialist, Marcantonio Barone. The work consists of ten movements, each based on a famous painting by artists including Paul Klee, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, James Whistler, Jasper Johns, Paul Gauguin, Salvador Dali, and Vasily Kandinsky. At 90, George Crumb continues to produce works of incredible detail and passion. Critic David Hurwitz wrote that InchBridge's decision to embark on a complete edition of George Crumb's music remains one of the most significant recording projects currently in progress, as well as one of the most artistically successful.Inch

With this new recording, Fernando de Luca fills a significant gap in the catalogue of French Baroque music. While sonatas of Tapray have been recorded on a modern piano, there is no recording of them on the harpsichord; all the more significant because Tapray stands as a pivotal figure in the history of French keyboard music, positioned at the crossroads between the harpsichord and the fortepiano.Born in 1738, Jean-François Tapray worked in Paris, Besançon, and elsewhere as an organist, until ill health forced his retirement in 1786. However, he continued to compose, at least until the turn of the century, and died in 1822. From 1773 onwards, he had embraced the new technology of the fortepiano and published a Keyboard Method (Op. 25) for the instrument. All the same, he continued to write specifically for the harpsichord too, such as a Symphony Op. 12 for harpsichord and orchestra, from 1780. Thus his works, such as the sonatas presented here, reflect both the culmination and the last flowering of the harpsichord tradition in France.The Variations on Les Sauvages is often cited as one of the last great virtuoso works for the harpsichord in France. Tapray's piece is both a transcription and a reworking of a famous air by Rameau, taken from his opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes (1735). The four variations embrace a diverse array of styles, from the cascades of the modern galant style to the unstable rhythms of the French Baroque, and finally a synthesis of both German and Italian style in the last variation.In this sense, the Variations do not so much look back on the Baroque era as absorb it's style within a rapidly evolving culture. The sonatas, likewise, capture a galant aesthetic with their alternation between spirited Allegro movements, graceful airs, and highly stylized dances. For this recording, Fernando de Luca has chosen a harpsichord modelled after a Blanchet

Hans Koessler is a composer whose name is well known, even if his work is not widely familiar. In this case, his partial renown is due to the fact that this Bavarian composer taught the next generation of Hungarian musicians-including Bartók, Kodály, and Dohnányi-in Budapest and was ultimately awarded the noble title Inchvon.Inch Although some students complained behind his back about his professorial stringency, Koessler's own works tell a different story. The great creative power, poetic sensitivity, and tonal confidence of his B minor symphony are complemented in the violin concerto by remarkable formal originality-there are probably few works of this genre that unfold their eloquence as a powerful passacaglia.