Nocturne: Music for Harp / Luise

$10.99
Label
Brilliant Classics
Release Date
January 7, 2022
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Carl Czerny, Claude Debussy, John Field, Frederic Chopin
    • PERFORMER
      Alessia Luise
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      January 07, 2022
    • UPC
      5028421964980
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      BRI96498
    • LABEL
      Brilliant Classics
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Adagio sostenuto

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    2. II. Allegretto

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    3. III. Presto agitato

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    4. No. 1. Der Abend

      Composer: Carl Czerny

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    5. No. 2. Die Nacht

      Composer: Carl Czerny

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    6. Nocturne No. 5 in B-Flat Major, H. 37A (arr. for harp)

      Composer: John Field

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    7. Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor, Op. posth. (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    8. Nocturne No. 6 in G Minor, Op. 15, No. 3 (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Frédéric Chopin

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    9. Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5: II. Andante (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Johannes Brahms

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    10. Suite bergamasque: III. Clair de lune (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Claude Debussy

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    11. Nocturne (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Claude Debussy

      Performer: Alessia Luise

    12. Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon (arr. for harp)

      Composer: Claude Debussy

      Performer: Alessia Luise


A meticulous, focused search for sound informs the selection of pieces on this recital, a voyage through 19th-century European music, in the vehicle of the nocturne, along the route of harp transcriptions. In these works, the composers capture night as a sliver of time, evoking the intimate and introspective side of the Romantic spirit. Night is also a metaphor for transformation, from darkness to light, for transcription from one musical instrument to another. For this ‘reduction of a big thought to a practical instrument’, as Ferruccio Busoni put it in 1913, the harp was a popular choice, particularly in the late 19th century, when the instrument’s repertoire was augmented by a number of excellent transcriptions and reductions by renowned harp teachers and performers. Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata provides the ideal starting point for a sonic journey through the light and dark of the Romantic spirit. Czerny’s short arabesques, Der Abend und die Nacht, continue the theme of twilight and night-time fantasy. Irishman John Field did not invent the nocturne, but he was responsible for the ‘crystallization of an idiom’ that, a generation later, Chopin would take to new heights. The second movement of Brahms’s Piano Sonata No.3 evokes a nocturne, but on a larger scale. Debussy’s Clair de lune envelops the listener in a night freed from traditional formal structures, providing a brief escape from the 18th-century style of the preceding movements. His Nocturne in D flat, on the other hand, transports us back to Romanticism, its mysterious bass octaves and tender arpeggios leading to a melody of expansive, Chopinesque lyricism, which stands out above the changes in harmonic color. With its pure, abstract sonority the concise Les Soirs illumineìs par l’ardeur du charbon presents night as verging on silence.