Suchon - Metamorphosis / Suite Balladesque - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Crown J - Fly Boy [COMPACT DISCS] Asia - Import date 09/06/2011

The Cavaillé-Coll organ in the cathedral of Saint-Omer is testament to the skill and talent of it's famous constructor. The instrument's sonic aesthetics naturally combine refinement and opulence. The organ is thus an ideal medium to convey the musical and sonic transformations presented by this recording Shostakovich's string quartet movement, piano pieces by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov as well as orchestral works by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky are all expanded by the transcriptions which bring out surprising sounds and details of the original works, creating new and unique listening experiences. Sophie Rétaux is titular organist of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saint-Omer (France). To promote this exceptional instrument, she began transcribing major works of the chamber music and symphonic repertoire from the post-romantic and modern periods for her instrument. Several Prizes at international organ competitions launched her concert career in France and abroad. An avid chamber musician, she performs as frequently on the piano as she does on the organ, as well as on the harpsichord and the fortepiano.

This historic couples George Crumb's earliest work for piano, the Five Pieces for Piano (1962) with his most recent piano cycle, Metamorphoses (2017). Margaret Leng Tan has long been a champion of Crumb's music, and he composed Metamorphoses (Book 1) for her. This recording is of the German premiere at the legendary Donaueschingen Festival in 2017. Crumb's Metamorphoses is a natural descendent of his monumental Makrokosmos I & II piano cycle of the early 1970s. With a nod to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, each movement of the Metamorphoses is inspired by a famous painting. And, like the Makrokosmos, it requires the pianist to be a virtuoso not only at the keyboard but playing inside the piano and vocalizing as well. Ms. Tan is regarded at the InchDiva of the Toy Piano,Inch and Crumb has also incorporated the toy piano and toy percussion instruments into some movements. Crumb says InchI have always been most fortunate to have had outstanding pianists who were willing to tackle the formidable technical and musical innovations in my scores. And among the very finest of these is Margaret Leng Tan for whom I wrote Metamorphoses (Book l). Margaret's technical prowess and superb artistic sensitivity is a combination that must warm the heart of any composer!Inch The album also includes the early Five Pieces for Piano. All the components of Crumb's mature compositional language are already evident a broad palette of coloristic effects along with an extraordinarily sensitive command of nuance, his unmistakable musical gestures, an inherent sense of drama coupled with a magical suspenseful atmosphere and a battery of interior piano effects demanding that the pianist be somewhat of a harpist and percussionist as well.