Thomas Trondhjem - Hartmann: Piano Works, Vol. 6 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Inchsympathetic madnessInch was exactly that spark that continued to distinguish the instrumental production of the InchNeapolitansInch and which also transpires from the literature by Barbella dedicated to almandol, an instrument very dear to aristocratic circles as can now be deduced, in a self-evident way, from recent studies on this tool always betrayed by a history that relegated it exclusively to a InchstreetInch or just InchpopularInch practice. The Six Duos were composed for 2 violins or 2 mandolins, as was customary in the practice of the time, which saw the same compositions performed on different instruments. Barbella also composed music for mandolin alone. Although his writing is less idiomatic than that, for example, of his fellow countryman Giovanni Battista Gervasio (c. 1725 - c. 1785, himself a mandolinist), Barbella manages to combine a refined compositional style, which he learned in the Neapolitan conservatories, with techniques and the pizzicato sound of the new mandolin, creating a new way of writing, with harmonies and sounds that had probably never been heard before. The listener can still perceive this new sound today in the performance offered to us on this CD, where the choice of the musicians was to perform the Duos not with two violins or two mandolins, but with a violin and a mandolin. A sound that we can legitimately imagine to be not so far from that heard by the listeners and performers of the time, given the great diffusion that the instrument had throughout Europe, as the iconography of the time illustrates.

Danish composer J.P.E. Hartmann was the leading romantic Danish composer who influenced generations of Danish composers, not least Niels W. Gade and the son Emil Hartmann. He was a prolific composer and composed in all genres. His extensive music for piano is sadly too little known outside Denmark, but with it's romantic tone, melodic charm and harmonies known from Schumann and Mendelssohn it will come as a pleasant surprise to all lovers of romantic music for piano. Danish pianist Thomas Trondhjem is here presenting the first of a complete recording of all the works for solo piano by J.P.E. Hartmann. Volume 2 to be released late Autumn 2020.

Danish Romantic composer JPE Hartmann was born 1805 and lived nearly to be 100 years. During his time he was the most influential composer in Denmark and wrote beautiful music for solo piano. Here Danish pianist Thomas Trondhjem has reached the fourth volume in this enterprising series. Thomas Trondhjem (born 1954 in Lemvig, Denmark) was in January 1990 appointed teacher in piano and accompaniment at the Music Academy of Jutland West and 2004 appointed ass. Professor of piano and accompaniment at The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. He studied at The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus with Poul La Cour and finished his studies with a debut concert in 1985. The concert received brilliant reviews and rewarded Thomas Trondhjem with a Diploma with the highest grade. Trondhjem often gives solo recitals showing his immense repertoire, mainly from the classical period, the romantic period plus the composers of the 20th century.