[USED:Cond.A] Etudes: Hamelin

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN (b1961)

12 Etudes in all the minor keys [50'20]
1. No 1 in A minor: Triple Etude (after Chopin) 1992 [2'15]
2. No 2 in E minor: Coma Berenices 2008 [2'51]
3. No 3 in B minor: after Paganini-Liszt 1993 [4'59]
4. No 4 in C minor: Etude a mouvement perpetuellement semblable (after Alkan) 2005 [3'59]
5. No 5 in G minor: Toccata grottesca 2008 [4'38]
6. No 6 in D minor: Esercizio per pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti) 1992 [3'31]
7. No 7 in E flat minor: after Tchaikovsky (for the left hand alone) 2006 [5'01]
8. No 8 in B flat minor: Erlkonig (after Goethe) 2007 [4'44]
9. No 9 in F minor: after Rossini 1987 [3'46]
10. No 10 in F sharp minor: after Chopin 1990 [2'00]
11. No 11 in C sharp minor: Minuetto 2009 [6'27]
12. No 12 in A flat minor: Prelude and Fugue 1986 [6'09]

13. Little Nocturne 2007 [2'15]

from Con intimissimo sentimento 1986-2000 [12'56]
14. Landler I [2'21]
15. Album Leaf [2'12]
16. Music Box [2'00]
17. After Pergolesi [3'49]
18. Berceuse (in tempore belli) [2'34]

Theme and Variations (Cathy’s Variations) 2007 [10'37]
19. Theme Con semplicita, eleganza e tenerezza [1'55]
20. Variation 1 Piu mosso, corrente [1'06]
21. Variation 2 L’istesso tempo (ma cantabile) [1'28]
22. Variation 3 Molto piu moderato (poco rubato) [2'55]
23. Variation 4 Poco animato ma cantabile e senza prestezza [1'40]
24. Envoi A capriccio [1'33]

MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN, piano

Recorded in the Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, on 8-10 November 2009: 1-8, 11, 12, 19-24
EMI Abbey Road Studio No 1, on 25-26 January 1998: 9, 10 (previously issued on Hyperion CDA67050)
St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol, on 15 May 2009: 13
and Henry Wood Hall, London, on 30 August 2008: 14-18
Recording Engineers SIMON EADON, SIMON RHODES: 9, 10
Recording Producer ANDREW KEENER
Piano STEINWAY & SONS

Hamelin plays Hamelin: a glimpse into the fabulously bizarre musical mind of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of today. The pianophile population has been clamouring for this disc for some time.

Marc-Andre Hamelin’s 12 Etudes, written over a period of nearly twenty-five years, have already achieved cult status by reputation as pianistic challenges beyond the reach of most human fingers. They are also highly-wrought character pieces. That they will immediately take their place in the concert repertoire of any pianist who thinks themself equal to them is indicated by their contemporaenous publication by Peters Edition New York.

The disc is completed by more of Hamelin’s compositions: the quiet and reflective Con intissimo sentimento, and the love poem ‘Cathy’s Variations’. As a whole it is a detailed portrait of this most talented and complex musician. ( Hyperion )