Strauss Transcriptions : Hamelin

%%header%%

%%message%%

Godowsky: Strauss transcriptions & other waltzes

Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)
　
Marc-Andre Hamelin’s programme is mostly devoted to Godowsky’s works based on themes by - or directly inspired by - Johann Strauss II. It is not intended to be a comprehensive survey but is, nevertheless, fully representative of Godowsky’s finest reflections on the Waltz King.
In the three great Strauss transcriptions, Godowsky elevated the art of the piano paraphrase to a higher musical and pianistic plane; however their extreme technical difficulty remains a striking feature and places them out of the reach of ordinary pianists.
And Marc-Andre Hamelin is, of course, no ordinary pianist - in fact his playing on a recent disc (see below) was compared to that of Alkan and Liszt.
Triakontameron and Walzermasken are rarely performed examples of Godowsky’s original work, and continue the composer’s love-affair with the waltz - they are written entirely in 3/4 time.

The last work on this dazzling disc is an oddity - indeed, a rarity. Sometime prior to 1925, Godowsky made a piano roll of his arrangement of The Last Waltz by Oscar Straus (1870 - 1954), the Vienna-born composer.
The eponymous Waltz is heard throughout the 1920 operetta. The music of Godowsky’s transcription was never published for some unknown reason - it is a uniquely appealing arrangement. In the early 1970s, Gilles Hamelin, the pianophile father of Marc-Andre, notated, arranged and edited The Last Waltz from Godowsky’s piano roll, which was then published in 1975.
Shortly afterwards, a copy of the negative of Godowsky’s manuscript was sent to Gilles Hamelin. It was all but illegible, so Hamelin Snr. made a fair copy in his own hand: in almost every respect it tallied with the version he had transcribed from the piano roll. ( Hyperion )

Godowsky: Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen
　No 1: Kunstlerleben
Godowsky: Walzermasken
　No 2: Pastell
　No 14: Franzosisch
　No 22: Wienerisch
　No 24: Portrait - Joh. Str.
Godowsky: Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen
　No 2: Die Fledermaus
Godowsky: Triakontameron
　No 4: Rendezvous
　No 11: Alt Wien
　No 13: Terpsichorean Vindobona
　No 21: The Salon
　No 25: Memories
Godowsky: Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen
　No 3: Wein, Weib und Gesang
Oscar Straus & Godowsky: Die letzte Walzer

Recording details: December 2007
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon