Alexandre Tharaud - Autograph

Information

Tracks List:

1. Bach, arr. Siloti - Prelude in B minor, BWV 855a
2. Fauré - Romance sans paroles, Op. 17 No. 3
3. Rameau - Les Sauvages
4. Glück, arr. Siloti - Dance of the Blessed Spirits
5. Rachmaninov - Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2
6. Tchaikovsky - Nocturne, Op. 19 No.4
7. Grieg - Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op. 65 No. 2
8. Sibelius - Valse triste, Op. 44 No.1
9. Scriabin - Prelude for the Left Hand, Op. 9 No. 1
10. Mendelssohn - Lied ohne Worte, Op. 67 No. 2
11. Chopin - Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1
12. Saint-Saëns, arr. Godowsky - Le Cygne (from Le Canaval des animaux)
13. Couperin - Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins
14. Chabirer - Feuillet d'album
15. Scarlatti - Sonata in D minor, K. 141
16. Bizet, arr. Tharaud - Adagietto (from L'Arlésiennes, suite de concert No. 1)
17. Cervantes - Adiós a CUba
18. Strasnoy - Tourbillon (after Le Tourbillon de la vie de Georges Delerue)
19. Poulenc - Mélancolie, FP 105
20. Mompou - El Lago (from Paisajes)
21. Tailleferre - Valse lente
22. Satie - Gymnopédie No. 3
23. Bach, arr. Tharaud - Andante (from the Concerto BWV 979 after Vivaldi)

Alexandre Tharaud, piano
Date: 2013
Label: Erato

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Review

Alexander Tharaud’s ‘Autographs’ are a series of musical signatures very much ‘as you like it’; a programme to suit all tastes. And with recordings that include a brilliant Ravel cycle and a gai Paris album (‘Le boeuf sur le toit’, 12/12) behind him, he now offers many of his favourite encores. A special blend of affection and verve, his choice takes us through the familiar and unfamiliar, including two of his own transcriptions; and everything is offered with an all-Gallic brio and warmth.

His way with Chopin’s ‘Minute’ Waltz is scintillating and individual, blessed with subtle pedalling, and if Saint-Saëns’s ‘Le cygne’ is less teasing and mercurial than Cherkassky in his legendary recording, he is hardly less musical in his more clear-cut way. Couperin’s ‘Le tic-toc-choc’ could hardly be more exuberant and he captures all of Poulenc’s stylised nostalgia in his Mélancolie. Strasnoy’s Tourbillon, with its wild, off-beat thunderclaps, is a marvel of timing, wit and precision, and Fauré’s Third Romance sans paroles is played with a dynamic range that would have won the approval of a composer who dreaded his music being played ‘with the shutters down.’

So, whether in Rameau or Scriabin, Tchaikovsky or Tailleferre, this is a box of delights. As Semprini, the popular TV pianist of the Sixties, had it, ‘old ones, new ones, loved ones, neglected ones’, crooned against the background of his own Mediterranean Concerto. Erato’s sound is as bright as a button.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Feb14/Autograph_Tharaud_9341372.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/24/alexandre-tharaud-autograph-review
https://www.audaud.com/alexandre-tharaud-autograph-works-of-bach-rachmaninov-faure-sibelius-grieg-scriabin-chopin-chabrier-bizet-poulenc-satie-others-erato/
http://www.allmusic.com/album/autograph-mw0002565273
https://www.amazon.com/Autograph-Encores-Alexandre-Tharaud/dp/B00EAH3HBS

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Alexandre Tharaud (born 9 December 1968 in Paris) is a French pianist. He is active on the concert stage and has released a large and diverse discography. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 14 where he won first prize for piano in the class of Germaine Mounier when he was 17 years old. With Theodor Paraskivesco, he mastered the piano, and he sought and received advice from Claude Helffer, Leon Fleisher and Nikita Magaloff. In 2012, Tharaud took part in the French film Amour by Michael Haneke where he played himself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Tharaud

https://www.alexandretharaud.com/

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