RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC
AT SCHLOSS VOR HUSUM 2016
Danacord 789 / *****
Last
year, the piano connoisseurs' festival in the North German seaside town of
Husum founded by German pianist Peter Froundjian marked its 30th
edition with 12 concerts featuring 14 pianists and a string quartet. This disc
of highlights is the embodiment and distillation of its philosophy of
showcasing rare Romantic repertoire, piano transcriptions and unusual encores.
While
Earl Wild's transcriptions of Rachmaninov songs, Stephen Hough's witty take on My
Favourite Things from The Sound of Music, and Brahms' Hungarian Dance
No.11 should no longer be considered rarities, they receive lovely
performances by Martin Jones, Simon Callaghan, and the duo of Cyprien Katsaris
and Helene Mercier respectively.
However,
there is a lot to discover in works by Alexandrov, Casadesus, Chaminade, Coke,
Kirchner, Moniuszko and Reubke, just to relive some forgotten names. The
longest track at nearly 7 minutes is reserved for Liszt's Hymne de la nuit,
a gem of rare introspection discarded from his cycle Harmonies poetiques et religeuses. Here, young Russian pianist Zlata Chochieva exposes the lie
that Liszt was a vulgarian.
Max Reger's Larghetto from Dreams at the
Fireplace is a tribute to Chopin's Berceuse, shaped with much beauty
by Joseph Moog. Herbert Rutkowski playing compatriot Paderewski's Nocturne is
another cherished moment, while the Grau/Schumacher duo make light work of
Busoni's arrangement of Mozart's The Magic Flute Overture. Here is delightful
listening from a unique festival that goes from strength to strength.
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