Godowsky - Strauss transcriptions and other waltzes | Hyperion CDA67626

Godowsky - Strauss transcriptions and other waltzes

£14.20

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Label: Hyperion

Cat No: CDA67626

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 28th July 2008

Contents

Works

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Kunstlerleben after Johann Strauss II

Godowsky
Walzermasken 24 tone poems in triple time: No.2 Pastell / No.14 Franzosisch / No.22 Wienerisch / No.24 Portrait—Joh. Str.

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus after Johann Strauss II

Godowsky
Triakontameron 30 moods and scenes in triple measure: No.4 Rendezvous / No.11 Alt Wien / No.13 Terpsichorean Vindobona / No.21 The Salon / No.25 Memories

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Wein, Weib und Gesang after Johann Strauss II

Straus/Godowsky
The Last Waltz (idealized version by Leopold Godowsky)

Artists

Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)

Works

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Kunstlerleben after Johann Strauss II

Godowsky
Walzermasken 24 tone poems in triple time: No.2 Pastell / No.14 Franzosisch / No.22 Wienerisch / No.24 Portrait—Joh. Str.

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Die Fledermaus after Johann Strauss II

Godowsky
Triakontameron 30 moods and scenes in triple measure: No.4 Rendezvous / No.11 Alt Wien / No.13 Terpsichorean Vindobona / No.21 The Salon / No.25 Memories

Godowsky
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Wein, Weib und Gesang after Johann Strauss II

Straus/Godowsky
The Last Waltz (idealized version by Leopold Godowsky)

Artists

Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)

About

Marc-André Hamelin’s programme is mostly devoted to Godowsky’s works based on themes by - or directly inspired by - Johann Strauss II. It is not intended to be a comprehensive survey but is, nevertheless, fully representative of Godowsky’s finest reflections on the Waltz King.

In the three great Strauss transcriptions, Godowsky elevated the art of the piano paraphrase to a higher musical and pianistic plane; however, their extreme technical difficulty remains a striking feature and places them out of the reach of ordinary pianists. And Marc-André Hamelin is, of course, no ordinary pianist!

Triakontameron and Walzermasken are rarely performed examples of Godowsky’s original work, and continue the composer’s love-affair with the waltz - they are written entirely in 3/4 time.

The last work on this dazzling disc is an oddity—indeed, a rarity. Sometime prior to 1925, Godowsky made a piano roll of his arrangement of The Last Waltz by Oscar Straus (1870–1954), the Vienna-born composer. The eponymous Waltz is heard throughout the 1920 operetta. The music of Godowsky’s transcription was never published for some unknown reason as it is a uniquely appealing arrangement. In the early 1970s, Gilles Hamelin, the pianophile father of Marc-André, notated, arranged and edited The Last Waltz from Godowsky’s piano roll, which was then published in 1975. Shortly afterwards, a copy of the negative of Godowsky’s manuscript was sent to Gilles Hamelin. It was all but illegible, so Hamelin Snr. made a fair copy in his own hand: in almost every respect it tallied with the version he had transcribed from the piano roll.
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