The superb disc of Hamelin's pioneering survey of piano music
by Georgy Catoire first appeared on full-price
Hyperion back in November 1999. This re-issue on their budget
label makes for quite exceptional value, given that in essence only
the price has dropped. The fabulous playing is still there, and all
faithfully reproduced in an outstanding recording environment.
A key figure in Russian musical life at the turn of the century, Georgy
L’vovich Catoire was born in Moscow on 27 April 1861 to parents
of French extraction. Although fascinated by music from an early age
— at 16 he began studying the works of Richard Wagner —
he enrolled as a student of mathematics and science at the University
of Moscow, graduating in 1884. After gaining his degree, however,
he decided to devote himself to music. His early compositions showed
the influence of Tchaikovsky and in 1888, Tchaikovsky, in a letter
to Rimsky-Korsakov, described Catoire as ‘very talented ...
(but) in need of serious schooling’. This was subsequently provided
by such teachers as Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, Arensky and Taneyev.
Catoire’s musical activities progressed to the point that by
1916 he was appointed Professor of Composition at the Moscow Conservatory,
a position he held for the rest of his life, and where Kabalevsky
later was one of his students. He wrote several treatises on music
theory, which became the foundation for the teaching of music theory
in Russia. His compositional style is essentially a synthesis of the
Russian, German (Wagner) and French (Chopin, Franck and Debussy) schools.
In addition to piano music, his output includes two
symphonies, a piano concerto, choral works, songs, and chamber
music (review
~ review
~ review).
Canadian-born Hamelin’s astoundingly original mix of musicianship
and pianistic virtuosity has earned him not only legendary status
for his performances of the classic repertoire, but also for his intrepid
exploration of unfamiliar musical terrain.
As such he is the perfect choice of exponent for this CD of piano
music from a composer who is still almost unheard of, and whose music
has suffered considerable and unjustified neglect. This, though, is
truly a pianist’s music, written by someone who understands
so instinctively every nuance of which the instrument is capable.
The pieces range in individual length from some forty-nine seconds
to a little over four and a half minutes. Even the longest set –
the four-movement Chants du crépuscule plays for just
over ten minutes in total. While these are all essentially miniatures,
they make significant demands on the performer, not necessarily in
overtly virtuosic passages, but often far more subtly. This, perhaps,
is a significant reason for their somewhat infrequent recital programming.
While Catoire studied composition, for a considerable time he was
essentially self-taught and this, coupled with an unbridled command
of piano technique and an equally original mind set his music free
in terms of imagination, while also leaving him unfettered by conventions
of the time or the need to conform. This is certainly not to say that
the pieces on the present CD are experimental on the one hand, or
decidedly conservative on the other. They simply speak with a unique
voice – an individual mix evolved from both a greater sense
of harmonic and rhythmic freedom, especially the former in terms of
key.
Hamelin’s CD is one of those where, no matter which track you
could randomly start with, or if you simply play it through from start
to finish, there’s pure delight awaiting you either way. The
opening Caprice is, perhaps, one of the most captivating
and dazzling of Catoire’s early pieces. It seems at times reminiscent
of Ravel’s À la manière de Borodine,
written some years later. The following Intermezzo provides
a good example of Catoire’s penchant for melodic transformation,
where an initial rising theme is inverted for the central section,
and then hinted at in combination towards the end. While the Trois
morceaux point towards the salon-type which was so popular at
the time, despite their relative shortness, they are much superior
in design. Sharing its title with one of Liszt’s Transcendental
Studies, Vision (Étude) is described as ‘a breathtakingly
brilliant piece, which demands great virtuosity’. In Hamelin’s
highly-skilled hands it certainly doesn’t disappoint, not at
all easy in a piece marked ‘Allegro fantastico’, but where
the dynamic rarely rises to ‘forte’, and only once to
‘fortissimo’.
While the individual pieces in the Cinq morceaux make clever
use of thematic transformation between them, those in the slightly
later Quatre morceaux do not appear to have a fundamental
unity. Unlike Scriabin, Rachmaninov or Shostakovich, Catoire did not
complete a set of Twenty-Four Preludes. His Quatre préludes,
like the preceding same number of Morceaux, are just self-contained
pieces. However his Quatre morceaux pour piano, Op. 24 –
entitled Chants du crépuscule (‘Songs of Twilight’),
and written around 1910 – show Catoire in a more experimental
mode, relatively-speaking. The first, curiously, has no specific tempo
indication, but is marked ‘sempre rubato’, which, with
its three-against-two quavers, helps to impart an impressionist feel
to the writing. The second is fairly chromatic, the third essentially
tranquil, while the fourth effectively is a résumé of
aspects of its three predecessors.
The CD concludes with the second of his Quatre morceaux, Op. 24,
entitled Poème, unusual in that, while cast in C minor,
this key is not reached until half way through its mere three minutes,
and the closing bars edge into the tonic major. This is followed by
the third piece in the Op. 24 set – a Prélude
of just some twenty-two bars – leaving a once more technically
demanding Valse in A flat major, Op. 36 to finish. Although
these last two pieces have relatively late opus numbers, they actually
date from Catoire’s early years, something which the almost
embryonic Prélude tends to suggest.
Even at its original full price, this quite enthralling CD is really
too good to miss, but in this budget reissue, it would appear almost
a compulsory purchase, given the valued inclusion of Robert Matthew-Walker’s
most informative original sleeve-notes.
Unfortunately Catoire’s available discography isn’t massive,
but some of his chamber music in particular is quite well represented,
as you’ll surely want to delve further into his fascinating
and original repertoire after auditioning this highly attractive Helios
re-issue.
Philip
R Buttall
Previous review (original release): Gerald
Fenech
Track listing
Caprice Op. 3 [4:01]
Intermezzo Op. 6 No. 5 [4:08]
Trois morceaux Op. 2 [8:13]
Prélude Op. 6 No. 2 [1:34]
Scherzo Op. 6 No. 3 [4:24]
Vision (Étude) Op. 8 [3:45]
Cinq morceaux Op. 10 [14:19]
Quatre morceaux Op. 12 [13:00]
Quatre préludes Op. 17 [7:48]
Chants du crépuscule Op. 24 [10:15]
Poème Op. 34 No. 2 [3:00]
Prélude Op. 34 No. 3 0:49]
Valse Op. 36 [2:55]
