AB I-05

Description

Albert Brussee plays piano music by 

C.P.E. BACH, GROTTHUSS, CHOPIN, DEBUSSY and LISZT

This CD opens with two recording premières: the beautiful Abschied von meinem Silbermannschen Clavier by C.P.E. Bach, a clavichord composition not previously recorded with the piano, and the accompanying piece, seldom played, Freude über den Empfang des Silbermannschen Claviers by Bach’s student and friend, Baron Dietrich Ewald Grotthuss. These are followed by two well-known Chopin works: the Mazurka in A minor, Opus 17 No. 4, a composition that in an earlier version was nicknamed ‘The Little Jew’, and the tragic, somber Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, No. 1, with its dramatic middle section in which a mazurka briefly flares up. The three works of Claude Debussy all belong to his first period, a time when the late Romantic of Fauré and Chabriez and early impressionist tendencies were mixing with fin-de-siècle characteristics. The CD concludes with five compositions from the ultimate version of Franz Liszt’s cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.

TRACKS
1.   Abschied vom meinem Silbermannschen Clavier (C.P.E. Bach)

2.   Freude über den Empfang des Silbermannschen Claviers (D.E. Grotthuss)

3.   Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 (F. Chopin)

4.   Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1 (F. Chopin)

5.   Première arabesque (C. Debussy)

6.   Rêverie (C. Debussy)

7.   Valse romantique (C. Debussy)

From: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses  – final version (F. Liszt)
8.   Hymne de l’enfant à son réveil
9.   Funérailles
10. Invocation
11. Ave Maria
12. Pater noster

Total playing time: 73:58

REVIEWS
“As long as you are not expecting virtuoso cut diamonds, Albert Brussee’s recently released album certainly provides a charming pearl with music by C.P.E. Bach, D.E. Grotthuss, Chopin, Debussy and Liszt that is pleasant to the ear. Brussee is able to let his instrument sing as of old, even in Liszt’s Funérailles and especially with Chopin and Debussy. The pianist clearly pays attention to the letter of the manuscript and the comprehensibility of his interpretive intentions, also in places where perhaps more could have been left to rhythmic ambiguity and to seduction and imagination. Brussee is absolutely momentous when it comes to Bach’s reflective Abscheid von meinem Silbermannschen Clavier – an inspired choice and, according to the comprehensive CD booklet, even the first recording of this wonderful work on piano. Amazing, such a footnote!”
Elger Niels, PianoWereld, May 2007 (translated from the Dutch)

“(…) The pianist is really in his element in five works of Liszt from his cycle Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1853), a work with which Brussee is closely connected, since he was able to round off his research into its origins with a significant publication. Especially characteristic is Brussee’s feeling for ample gestures and that his approach is highly appropriate to this music, gaining expansive and striking, almost rhetoric stature. But alongside this he is also sensitive to the contemplative moments, rendered with care and consideration. His use of the pedal is also more extensive here, letting the music breath more. It is however especially in the last three compositions, Invocation, Ave Maria and Pater noster, that his playing really comes into its own, due partly to the Bösendorfer grand, provided with wonderful bass sounds, and the more generous acoustics of the Witte Kerkje in Bunnik, where the recording of these pieces took place. That the explanatory text in the accompanying booklet meets the highest standards can be expected from someone like Brussee and it provides a welcome supplement to this production.”
Jan Marisse Huizing, Piano Bulletin 2007-1 (translated from the Dutch)

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
© 2006 AB Music Productions & Editions.
ISBN/ EAN: 8713897901610.
The individual tracks can be downloaded on iTunes.

MUSIC EXAMPLES