Good pick. The problem with many Chopin interpreters that I've noticed, especially when dealing with his nocturnes, is thier over-emphasis on using apprehension in certain notes to create a softer aura and it ends up being too lackluster and stagnate. His nocturnes are complex and require a pianist with a very discerning mind who understands how to apply force and energy where it is needed.
..and it is their complexness that makes them so beautiful, but not too much force or energy, I’d say.. because they need a lighter hand, to give them that haunting sound.. of day-dreams and waking day-mares.
A composer mentioned to me by Parodites: Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French-Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris, a city in which he spent virtually his entire life. Wikipedia
A neighbour of Chopin’s, he sounds like a more manic/choppy version of his contempory. It’s good, but not for falling asleep to.. I’ll leave that to Chopin. ; )
Chopin places me into a deep pensive state of mind, my thoughts would be too active to fall asleep. Pianists like Debussy and Ravel are better for sleeping; no energy, lackluster and sheepish melodies.
I'm not familiar with this composer, but he sounds like he tried to plagiarize Chopin and did not succeed. Chopin was highly structured and heroic; this guy is meandering and impulsive. Maybe he should have stuck to his Orthodox Hebrew bible studies instead, and left the art to the artists.
Chopin places me into a deep pensive state of mind, my thoughts would be too active to fall asleep. Pianists like Debussy and Ravel are better for sleeping; no energy, lackluster and sheepish melodies.
I’ll have to revisit them, to fall asleep to, some time.
Quote :
I'm not familiar with this composer, but he sounds like he tried to plagiarize Chopin and did not succeed. Chopin was highly structured and heroic; this guy is meandering and impulsive. Maybe he should have stuck to his Orthodox Hebrew bible studies instead, and left the art to the artists.
I'm into Schubert alot lately.
I think those contempories were similar to the Impressionists, in that they all sounded (as opposed to painted) very similar to each other ..I had not heard of him before either ..he’s certainly no Chopin.
I’ll revisit Schubert at some point too ..can’t remember anything by him.
Ahh Liszt...the Apollonian genius who was always teetering on Dionysian madness.
Datura wrote:
I think those contempories were similar to the Impressionists, in that they all sounded (as opposed to painted) very similar to each other
Disagree. Music and painting, two different animals. In terms of similarities, i find it to be tribal. The French sounded more akin to each other, as did the Germans to each other. The French, with the exception of Bizet, had a dainty and apprehensive style to me, while the Germans were very robust and heroic, ebullient, thymotic, which is the style I'm attracted to. The impressionist painters on the other hand, were indeed all offshoots of each other for sure.
Ahh Liszt...the Apollonian genius who was always teetering on Dionysian madness.
Datura wrote:
I think those contempories were similar to the Impressionists, in that they all sounded (as opposed to painted) very similar to each other
Disagree. Music and painting, two different animals. In terms of similarities, i find it to be tribal. The French sounded more akin to each other, as did the Germans to each other. The French, with the exception of Bizet, had a dainty and apprehensive style to me, while the Germans were very robust and heroic, ebullient, thymotic, which is the style I'm attracted to. The impressionist painters on the other hand, were indeed all offshoots of each other for sure.
In regard to this: ”in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, among the leading pianists in Paris“, so contempories amongst their Parisiene kinsmen, and the German composers likewise.
Any favourite composition in particular, amongst the German composers?
