MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
RECORDING OF THE MONTH


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Marc-André HAMELIN (b. 1961)
12 Études in all the minor keys (1986-2009) [50:20]
Little Nocturne (2007) [2:15]
Con intimissimo sentimento (excerpts) (1986-2000)
I. Ländler I [2:21]
II. Album Leaf [2:12]
III. Music Box [2:00]
IV. After Pergolesi [3:49]
V. Berceuse (in tempore belli) [2:34]
Theme and Variations (Cathy’s Variations) (2007) [10:37]
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
rec. 8-10 November 2009, Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, UK; 25-26 January 1998, EMI Abbey Road Studio No 1, London; 15 May 2009, St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol; and 30 August 2008, Henry Wood Hall, London
HYPERION CDA67789 [76:10]
Sound Samples

Experience Classicsonline


Dante’s imprecation ‘Abandon all hope ye who enter here’ seems appropriate for this music; not so much a case of pain and penury as a warning to those foolish enough to attempt it. Written and played by the Quebec-born virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin, these pieces continue the tradition of composer-pianists - Liszt especially - skilled enough to play their own devilish creations. As keyboard wizards go, Hamelin is one of the very best; his Alkan is simply astonishing (see review) so there’s no doubt he has the technique, but such exercises can seem relentless if they lack emotional/expressive range. Happily, Hamelin acknowledges this in his detailed liner-notes, where he describes his études as ‘character pieces’ rather than mere pianistic puffery.
 
Composed over 25 years, these pieces mimic a wide range of styles. The Triple Étude (after Chopin) is a good indication of what’s to come, outward urbanity concealing a powerfully individual undertow. It’s a compelling blend of virtuosity and feeling, for which Hyperion provides a warm, natural piano sound. The second étude, subtitled Coma Berenices, is more of a showpiece, the third, After Paganini-Liszt, a witty little exercise in staccato and dragging dance rhythms. This has all the glitter and gasp one associates with its flamboyant forebears, but what really appeals here is the pianist’s abiding sense of fun.
 
It’s seriously good playing, and the fourth étude, loosely titled ‘more of the same’, is a millrace in sound, strong rhythms in the left hand driving the music forward. It really does evoke the breathless brio of Alkan’s work, but then it is based on a contrapuntal combination of two of his pieces. The fifth étude, a ‘grotesque toccata’, must be one of the most challenging thus far, but again there’s enough personality in the playing to make it more than a sterile study. Very different from the fine, filigreed writing of No. 6, a deftly executed homage to Scarlatti.
 
And that’s another plus in this collection; the individual études are arranged to offer maximum contrast in terms of mood and manner, which makes it remarkably easy to sit through all 12 pieces in one sitting. The seventh étude, for example, is different again; subtitled After Tchaikovsky, you’d be hard-pressed to realise it’s for the left hand only. There’s a profound sense of calm beneath those lovely flourishes and quiet bass figures. Indeed, this is a pearl of a piece, perfectly formed and beautifully polished. An excellent example of Hamelin’s skills as composer and pianist, and a piece I will return to with great pleasure.
 
The eighth étude, Erlkönig, is a direct response to Goethe’s original poem and not the Schubert song, although the menacing bass at the start does hint at the mounting alarm that underpins the latter. Generally, Hamelin’s score is not as overtly dramatic as Schubert’s, nor does it have that compelling musical and emotional arch; still, it has a simplicity - an artlessness, if you like - that is most welcome after the highly wrought pieces we’ve heard thus far. As for the ninth and tenth études - subtitled After Rossini and After Chopin - these have already been released on Hyperion CDA67050. One certainly wouldn’t suspect they were recorded earlier, as they are as pleasingly presented as the rest. The Rossinian rush of notes is very well articulated, Chopin’s sound world admirably distilled in the all-to-brief No. 10.
 
The last two études, a minuet and prelude and fugue, seem to inhabit a very different universe, with grace supplanting glitter. That said, Hamelin’s straight-faced baroquerie is shot through with freer, more inventive writing, the stately dance all but forgotten until it reappears towards the end. Even that most formal of genres, the prelude and fugue, is filtered through a contemporary lens; the result is spikier and more extrovert than one might expect, the original tune glimpsed beneath coruscating embellishments. So, a rousing finale that only serves to increase one’s admiration for this most gifted composer-performer.
 
The remaining pieces on this disc are no less alluring, from the atmospheric, rather Debussian, Little Nocturne through to the five movements from Hamelin’s Con intimissimo sentimento. By his own admission, these are not as difficult as the études, but as miniatures they require a delicacy of touch and judicious attention to dynamics. Needless to say, Hamelin has all these qualities, the delicate Ländler I sensitively shaped, the gentle susurrations of Album Leaf - a title well-known in Romantic piano repertoire - suggested by the lightest of strokes. That same poise attends the tiny tunes of Music Box, whose oft- repeated pirouettes have a magnetic charm all of their own; the more expansive After Pergolesi demands a more robust approach, albeit with a subtlety of rhythm, the closing Berceuse curiously becalmed but never dull.
 
And that is another winning feature of this music - it never outstays its welcome. Hamelin has that all-too-rare ability to know when his material has been worked enough, so one is left feeling pleasantly sated. As for the Theme and Variations, its subtitle also has echoes of works dedicated to Cathys past and present. In this case the piece, written for Hamelin’s fiancée Cathy Fuller, has a simply stated theme and four fleeting - but very individual - sets of variations and a concluding Envoi. The pianist may be in a more relaxed mood, but he is just as scrupulous when it comes to rhythm, colour and general finesse.
 
In an age dominated by self-aggrandising performers it’s always a pleasure to hear artists who wear their virtuosity so lightly. There is much to savour, so many strands woven into works of skill and substance. Marry that with lucid, self-deprecating liner-notes and top-notch sound and you have one of the finest piano records of the year.
 
Dan Morgan  

 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.