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SOMM Recordings

Chopin, Debussy, Ravel & Schumann: Waltzes

Contemporary Virtuosic Romantic Dramatic Piano
$18.99

Details

Composer
Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Robert Schumann
Artist
Peter Donohoe
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Sep 20, 2024
Catalog #
SOMMCD 0690
UPC
748871069022

About

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce a stunning new solo piano recital from label veteran Peter Donohoe following his recent acclaimed coupling of Chopin's Second and Third Sonatas with Rachmaninoff's Chopin Variations, over which BBC Music Magazine's Rebecca Franks enthused "Donohoe's approach has a robust honesty and an appealing straightforward feel, with an instinct for the emotional rises and falls." Now the pianist revisits Chopin in the genre for which the composer is arguably best known and loved: the waltz. Donohoe has fashioned a substantial selection of 14 of Chopin's Waltzes into a set of his own design, juxtaposing the intimate numbers with the grand and virtuosic in fortuitous key relationships that the pianist says "form a more satisfying collection" compared with simply playing them through as numbered. It is hard to imagine any other composer that could have infused a dance-form with Chopin's lyrical pianism and singular dramatic storytelling. But the waltz naturally appealed to a great many other composers, among them Robert Schumann, Chopin's exact contemporary and fervent, if unrequited admirer. His Opus 1 "Abegg" Variations, in triple-time throughout and brimming with elegant fioritura, form one of a pair of waltz bookends to the Chopin set and begin this recital with an exhilarating take-off. On the other side of the Chopin set and leading the waltz suavely into the 20th-century is Maurice Ravel's cycle of eight Valses nobles et sentimentales, again organised to contrast vigorous (noble) numbers with evocative (sentimental) counterparts in an eclectic blend of Impressionism and Modernism, but this time according to the composer's own design. A lovely postlude comes in the form of La plus que lente, in which Ravel's fellow impressionist Claude Debussy crafts a harmonically sumptuous ode to the "slow waltz" (valse lente) steeped in languid nostalgia. Peter Donohoe's acclaimed discography of previous SOMM releases includes the complete cycle of Prokofiev Piano Sonatas and a complete survey of Mozart's Piano Sonatas - Volume 1 of the Mozart series was named a BBC Music Magazine "Recording of the Month", citing "a gloves-off spontaneity that imbues these magical scores with a compelling vitality and freshness". Other discs include Stravinsky's Music for Solo Piano and Piano and Orchestra and Scriabin's Complete Piano Sonatas.

Tracklist 20 tracks

  1. 1 Theme and Variations on the name Abegg, Op. 1 08:48
    Track
    1
    Title
    Theme and Variations on the name Abegg, Op. 1
    Duration
    08:48
    Composer
    Robert Schumann
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  2. 2 Waltz No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, "Grande valse brillante" 05:33
    Track
    2
    Title
    Waltz No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, "Grande valse brillante"
    Duration
    05:33
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  3. 3 Waltz No. 9 in A-Flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1, "L'adieu" 04:13
    Track
    3
    Title
    Waltz No. 9 in A-Flat Major, Op. 69, No. 1, "L'adieu"
    Duration
    04:13
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  4. 4 Waltz No. 8 in A-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3 03:08
    Track
    4
    Title
    Waltz No. 8 in A-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3
    Duration
    03:08
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  5. 5 Waltz No. 13 in D-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 3 03:08
    Track
    5
    Title
    Waltz No. 13 in D-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 3
    Duration
    03:08
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  6. 6 Waltz No. 6 in D-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, "Minute" 01:59
    Track
    6
    Title
    Waltz No. 6 in D-Flat Major, Op. 64, No. 1, "Minute"
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  7. 7 Waltz No. 4 in F Major, Op. 34, No. 3, "Valse brillante" 02:17
    Track
    7
    Title
    Waltz No. 4 in F Major, Op. 34, No. 3, "Valse brillante"
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  8. 8 Waltz No. 12 in F Minor, Op. 70, No. 2 03:12
    Track
    8
    Title
    Waltz No. 12 in F Minor, Op. 70, No. 2
    Duration
    03:12
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  9. 9 Waltz No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1, "Valse brillante" 05:33
    Track
    9
    Title
    Waltz No. 2 in A-Flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1, "Valse brillante"
    Duration
    05:33
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  10. 10 Waltz No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 34, No. 2, "Valse brillante" 06:03
    Track
    10
    Title
    Waltz No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 34, No. 2, "Valse brillante"
    Duration
    06:03
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  11. 11 Waltz No. 14 in E Minor, Op. posth. 03:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    Waltz No. 14 in E Minor, Op. posth.
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  12. 12 Waltz No. 10 in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2 03:59
    Track
    12
    Title
    Waltz No. 10 in B Minor, Op. 69, No. 2
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  13. 13 Waltz No. 11 in G-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 1 01:54
    Track
    13
    Title
    Waltz No. 11 in G-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 1
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  14. 14 Waltz No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2 03:59
    Track
    14
    Title
    Waltz No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  15. 15 Waltz No. 5 in A-Flat Major, Op. 42 04:01
    Track
    15
    Title
    Waltz No. 5 in A-Flat Major, Op. 42
    Duration
    04:01
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  16. 16 I. Modéré, très franc - II. Assez lent, avec une expression intense 03:41
    Track
    16
    Title
    I. Modéré, très franc - II. Assez lent, avec une expression intense
    Duration
    03:41
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  17. 17 III. Modéré - IV. Assez anime - V. Presque lent, dans un sentiment intime 03:57
    Track
    17
    Title
    III. Modéré - IV. Assez anime - V. Presque lent, dans un sentiment intime
    Duration
    03:57
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  18. 18 VI. Vif - VII. Moins vif 03:33
    Track
    18
    Title
    VI. Vif - VII. Moins vif
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  19. 19 VIII. Epilogue: Lent 04:36
    Track
    19
    Title
    VIII. Epilogue: Lent
    Duration
    04:36
    Composer
    Maurice Ravel
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe
  20. 20 La plus que lente 04:39
    Track
    20
    Title
    La plus que lente
    Duration
    04:39
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Peter Donohoe