Stephanie McCallum - Four Hands at Home - Domestic Music-Making in the - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. I. Allegro Con Brio 2. II. Marcia Funebre (Adagio Assai) 3. III. Scherzo - Trio (Allegro Vivace) 4. IV. Finale (Allegro Molto) 1. I. Adagio - Allegro Con Brio 2. II. Adagio Cantabile 3. III. Tempo Di Menuetto 4. IV. Tema Con Variazioni (Andante) 5. V. Scherzo (Allegro Molto E Vivace) 6. VI. Andante Con Moto Alla Marcia - Presto

The latest volume in an ongoing series by an acclaimed Bach specialist on the modern piano.With recordings of the French Suites, Partitas and Goldberg Variations on Piano Classics, the Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng has placed himself among the most searching of present-day Bach pianists. As Jed Distler remarked in Gramophone, reviewing the Goldbergs, 'Yuan Sheng's disciplined, scrupulously terraced style often reflects his mentor Rosalyn Tureck.'In a new and illuminating booklet essay for this album, the musicologist and pianist Raymond Erickson remarks that the 15 two-part Inventions and the 15 three-part Sinfonias played an important role in Bach's teaching. These pieces, although today mainly associated with basic piano training, are not at all easy and in fact are sophisticated, small-scale masterpieces. 'They were not composed simply to provide technical training in keyboard playing but, perhaps more important, to teach keyboard players how to compose.'In 1720 Bach's oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-84) was already of an age appropriate for introducing him into the family trade of musician. So Bach started for him a music notebook a Clavierbuchlein which included these Inventions and Sinfonias. Bach revised them shortly before moving to Leipzig in the spring of 1720, to take up his new post as Thomaskantor, and copied them out with a preface. In learning and playing these works, Bach affirmed, a diligent student would be taught 'a clear manner for playing not only in two voices but also in three obbligato parts and, furthermore, not only how to invent good musical ideas [inventiones] but also how to develop these well. And above all, how to achieve a cantabile manner of playing, and additionally to obtain a strong foretaste of Composition.'So it is that the Inventions and Sinfonias have given much pleasure to both performers and listeners throughout the subseque

This is the second volume of a two-CD series presenting the first recording of the complete Chants in over 20 years; it also contains the world premiere recording of of Alkan's Chapeau bas! Playing a repertoire from the 18th to the 21st century, Stephanie McCallum is especially noted for her performances of virtuosic music of the 19th century, particularly the music of Liszt and Alkan, and also for her advocacy of demanding contemporary solo and ensemble scores. Album Tracks 1. Neige Et Lave 2. Chanson de la Bonne Vieille 3. Bravement 4. Doucement 5. Appassionato 6. Barcarolle 7. Duettino 8. Andantinetto 9. Allegro Vivace 10. La Voix de L'instrument 11. Scherzo-Coro 12. Récapitulation - Barcarolle 13. Andantino 14. TRÈS Vif 15. Ma Chère Liberté - Focosamente Ma Sostenuto Molto - Quasi Scherzando 16. Me Chère Servitude - Poco Lento 17. Désir. Fantaisie 18. Chapeau Bas! Seconda Fantasticheria