Carl CZERNY (1791-1857)
30 Études de Mécanisme, Op. 849
Nicolas Horvath (piano)
rec. 2018, Studio La Fabrique des Rêves, Misy, France
GRAND PIANO GP815 [47:00]
Nicolas Horvath is a well-known French pianist and electroacoustic composer, and has recorded over two dozen albums, including works by Erik Satie and Philip Glass. His new release is an interesting recording of a book of piano exercises: Carl Czerny’s Opus 849, Studies of Mechanism. Carl Czerny was a remarkable pianist and composer who studied as a child with Beethoven and began his own teaching career in Vienna at the age of 15. One of Czerny’s more prominent students was Franz Liszt. Today, Czerny is best known and remembered for his wide-ranging collections of musical exercises for the piano. These popular drills are still used daily by students at all levels to improve finger and wrist posture and flexibility, and to increase strength, speed and agility as well as broaden sight-reading skills. His Op. 849 is a collection of 30 études, or exercises, designed for advanced pianists, and is often used within a block of instruction, featured between Op. 599, Practical Method for Beginners, and Op. 299, The School of Velocity.
Performing a workbook of piano exercises is an unusual choice for a recording and has its challenges. Each étude is short in length, most less than two minutes, and can test the most able student’s stamina, combining series of scales and arpeggios using both hands, with tempos ranging between fast and galloping. Fifteen études focus on the development of the right hand and four s on the left hand, primarily using scales, triplets, quadruplets and sextuplets. The remaining eleven focus on the coordination of both hands, primarily using scales, triplets, and quadruplets. Nos. 10 and 24 focus on arpeggios, and No. 28 provides a short but demanding series of sextuplet chords. Horvath performs each étude with his own style and expertly provides feeling and dynamic phrasing, allowing each one to stand on its own merits as a musical work as well as a piano exercise.
This disc would be very useful to piano students who are interested in studying Op. 849 and mastering the exercises, which seems to be the label’s intention, as it is part of Grand Piano’s “Finger Finesse Study Series”.
Bruce McCollum
