Inspired by Chopin Marcel Worms Piano Robert Schumann Style of Chopin
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Inspired by Chopin Marcel Worms PIANO Robert Schumann style of Chopin. Un poco di Chopin: the mild perspective Inspired by Chopin Chopin indicated in the title of this late work (1893) perhaps Variations on a Nocturne by Chopin conveys Tchaikovsky’s ambivalence towards Chopin’s ost composers, while they are alive, are known It is a well-known quote from the music critic Robert music. only to a select few. A small part of them achieve Schumann in his article on Chopin’s variations on fame after their deaths. Some enjoy a widespread Mozart’s Là ci darem la mano: ‘Hats off, gentlemen – a Edvard Grieg M popularity while they are still composing, but genius!’ Schumann always remained an unconditional Etude (Hommage to Chopin) after they die are quickly forgotten. A small minority is admirer of Chopin, as witnessed by the section in Edvard Grieg has more than once been characterised already legendary while living, their stature rising after Carnaval op.9 named for the composer. In particular as the Chopin of the North. Besides a similarity in death still further. But rare are the composers, who not the harmonic texture of Chopin’s music fascinated their harmonic and melodic language, both composers only before and after their deaths are famous, but who Schumann. This admiration appears not to have been extensively use elements from their national folklore. In also influence the coming generations, who renew and reciprocated. Chopin seems never to have played a work his cycle Stemninger (Moods), the Norwegian composer expand the instrumental technique, for whom tombeaux, of Schumann, nor ever given his students something of reserved one of the five parts for an homage to Chopin. hommages and souvenirs are composed, and from whose Schumann to study. As regards key, broken arpeggios in the left hand, and the heritage virtually no colleague can entirely escape. To Chopin’s Nocturne op.15 nr.3, with its simple and lucid agitated emotion, the piece brings Chopin’s Etude op.10 this exclusive group belongs not only Johann Sebastian texture is eminently suitable for a series of variations. nr.9 to mind. Bach, but also Frédéric Chopin. Schumann’s variations on the first part of this nocturne Composers of Chopin’s own time, but above all those are still almost entirely unknown. Perhaps this is owing Frédéric Chopin of the next generation, adapted the works of Chopin, to the lack of a genuine ending. The work was written in Waltz in f minor op.70 nr.2 in all sorts of ways, and for pronouncedly divergent about 1834. Thanks to the appropriate closing measures Leopold Godowsky instruments and orchestrations. In particular the from the hand of Joachim Draheim, the work is now Concert Arrangement of Chopin’s Waltz nr.12 in f minor mazurkas were much-desired material for transcriptions. performable. The Viennese pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky The influence of Chopin on Polish composers was great, occupied himself intensively with the work of Chopin. but internationally his influence also made itself felt. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky His complex adaptations of Chopin’s Etudes have driven Schumann and Liszt were among the most important of Un poco di Chopin (A little bit of Chopin) many a pianist, already happy if he could decently play Chopin’s admirers, and unreservedly acknowledged his Russian imperial soldiers entered Chopin’s homeland the original Etudes, to the brink of despair. Godowsky’s influence on their own work. in 1831 to suppress the Polish rebellion. He would arrangements are in step with a time in which composers In Spain, the music of Chopin resounds in the works of thereafter deeply hate the Russian army. Nonetheless his felt the need to adapt piano works from the past to fit a composers as Albéniz, de Falla and Granados; in France music quickly became enormously popular in Russia. more modern concert practice. These older piano works by Fauré and Duparc and later by Debussy and Poulenc. Tchaikovsky was already acquainted with Chopin’s were meant for the home, salon or small concert hall, and And, a more recent example, the American George work as a child and played the music during his piano would not, it was argued, come into their own in the new- Crumb made use of three fragments from Chopin’s lessons, but seems in later life to have developed a certain er, considerably larger halls. Fantaisie-Impromptu in his Makrokosmos of 1972. antipathy for Chopin’s work. The brothers Nicolai and Godowsky adds to this waltz, then, a number of extra This CD means to illustrate the rich piano repertoire Anton Rubinstein, both pianists, were able with their voices and chromatic lines whereby the piece markedly which in one way or another gives tribute to the work Chopin interpretations to subsequently adjust his increases in density. But more interesting yet is that he of the iconic piano composer Frédéric François Chopin, opinion. In a letter from 1878 to the composer Taneyev, hereby relocates the waltz from the Parisian salon to the with the emphasis on works where the composer he even concedes that, in spite of himself, Chopin had Viennese ballroom. explicitly states that his Polish predecessor was the source quite substantially influenced his music. Number 15 of of his inspiration. the series of 18 piano pieces op.72, is a mazurka in the Alexander Scriabin It is a strikingly virtuosic work and therefore somewhat before Chopin’s Heart. Wim Statius Muller embodies Mazurka op.3 atypical for Mompou. Usually he is much more frugal in this influence as no other, and not for nothing is he called Few composers have so clearly allowed the influence of the use of his notes. Shortly before the finale, a fragment the Curaçaoan Chopin. Chopin into their own work as has Alexander Scriabin. of Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu is called up… Avila Beach is a renowned hotel-cum-concert hall But even in his early work, as in the Mazurka op.3, the on Curaçao. In this hall I was privileged to play the ‘Russian soul’ already provides a more extreme harmonic Frédéric Chopin eponymous waltz with the composer listening in the and rhythmic language than that of his strongly present Waltz in a minor op.34 nr.2 first row. predecessor. In the end, Scriabin in his later work will Howard Flynn prove to be one of the leading music innovators of the Chopinette, Rhythmic Study Benjamin Godard early 20th century. for the Piano Chopin (from ‘Lanterne Magique’ To exchange a classically-cut tuxedo for a flashier model op.66 nr.2) Francis Poulenc – many a musician has done that. Art Tatum did it with Although originally a violinist, the French composer Nocturnes nr.1 and nr.4 Dvořáks Humoresque and Jacques Loussier did it with Benjamin Godard has left behind an impressive amount Already at a young age Francis Poulenc was introduced Bach. But Chopin is strikingly often pimped up with of piano music. to the piano music of Chopin. This music was one of jazzy harmonies and rhythms, perhaps because much This movement of Godard’s Lanterne Magique is the favourites of his mother, a talented amateur pianist. of his music comprises stylized dances such as waltzes, an homage to Chopin. The composer avidly quotes Poulenc did not write an homage or a work dedicated mazurkas and polonaises. Howard Flynn made of from his waltzes and mazurkas and from the Fantaisie- to Chopin, but in much of his music, especially in the Chopin’s Valse mélancholique an energetic foxtrot with Impromptu. But more important than these citations is Nocturnes, his love of Chopin is obvious. Harmonies a whiff of Latin. Moreover, this composer is, for the time the harmonic language of the piece, which immediately and phrasing call up memories of the nocturnes of his being at least, the mystery guest on this CD: nowhere was evokes the inspirer’s world of timbres. predecessor. In the fourth nocturne Chopin’s Prelude in there even the smallest biographical or musical fact to A major can be heard, the Prelude which served as theme discover about him. Arthur Honegger for Mompou’s Variations on a theme of Chopin, also on Souvenir de Chopin this CD. Heitor Villa-Lobos Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer but was born Nocturne (from ‘Hommage to Chopin’) and raised in France, where he would become one of the Federico Mompou Brazil’s most famous composer from the last century, members of the Groupe des Six. His Souvenir de Chopin Variations on a theme of Chopin Heitor Villa-Lobos, wrote his homage to Chopin for a was written for the 1946 film Un ami viendra ce soir, one Mompou’s parents had foresight. They named their concert organized by the UNESCO in Paris on October of the first post-war films about the French Resistance. In son after Frédéric Chopin. At the Paris Conservatory 3, 1949. The occasion was the hundredth anniversary a short character sketch, Chopin’s musical personality is Mompou’s piano teacher called his student ‘Frédéric the of Chopin’s death. Although Chopin’s harmonies are tellingly captured. Second’. audible, it’s the characteristic chords of Villa-Lobos which Moupou’s variations are based on Chopin’s Prelude lend a dark and threatening undertone to the piece. Jean Françaix op.28 nr.7. Originally the composer had a work for cello Nocturne and piano in mind; later he wrote an orchestra piece to Wim Statius Muller Hommage to Frédéric Chopin be used as ballet music, until at last he produced the final Avila Beach Even though Stravinsky and Poulenc had a greater version, for solo piano.