Reynaldo Hahn - The Bewildered Nightingale (Earl Wild)

Information

Composer: Reynaldo Hahn

CD1:

• (01-30) Le Rossignol éperdu - Série I

CD2:

• (01-06) Le Rossignol éperdu - Série II "Orient"
• (07-15) Le Rossignol éperdu - Série III "Carnet de Voyage"
• (16-23) Le Rossignol éperdu - Série IV "Versailles"

Earl Wild, piano
Date: 2001
Label: Ivory Classics
http://www.ivoryclassics.com/releases/72006/

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

You’d think that at 86 Earl Wild would have surveyed all of the forgotten Romantic piano literature that’s worth reviving. Not quite, folks! Here’s an absolutely exquisite cycle of “53 poèmes pour piano” by Reynaldo Hahn, collectively titled Le Rossignol Éperdu (The Distraught Nightingale). Synthesize early Scriabin preludes, the sparse lyricism of late Liszt, Fauré’s subtle harmonic palette, the delicate balance of Mompou’s piano miniatures, plus Massenet’s melodic fluidity, and you’ve got the gist of Hahn’s attractive if modestly deployed keyboard writing. The pieces range from 30 seconds to eight minutes and draw inspiration from literary and artistic images, but you don’t need to know that in order to simply enjoy them as pure music. Under Earl Wild’s seasoned but spirited fingers, each piece seemingly unfolds by itself with no trace of interpretive baggage. The full, somewhat dry engineering conveys an intimate drawing room ambience that suits this project well. Add Lord Londonderry’s fascinating annotations, and you’ll wonder where these treasures have been hiding before Wild took up their cause. I only hesitate to call this important release “the crown jewel of Earl Wild’s recorded legacy” because you never know what this eternally youthful pianist has in store for us next! [12/21/2001]

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: ****
http://www.amazon.com/Hahn-rossignol-Bewildered-Nightingale-recording/dp/B00005S6VR

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Reynaldo Hahn (August 9, 1874 in Caracas, Venezuela – January 28, 1947 in Paris, France) was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic, diarist, theatre director, and salon singer. Hahn studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod, Camille Saint-Saëns and Émile Decombes. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie. As a conductor Hahn specialised in Mozart. For many years he was one of the best critics on music and musicians and a influential music critic of the leading Paris daily, Le Figaro.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynaldo_Hahn

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Earl Wild (November 26, 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – January 23, 2010 in Palm Springs, California) was an American pianist, renowned as a leading virtuoso of his generation. He was well known for his transcriptions of classical music and jazz, and he was also a composer. Wild created numerous virtuoso solo piano transcriptions and also wrote a number of original works. In 1939, he became the first pianist to perform a recital on U.S. television. In 1997, he was the first pianist to stream a performance over the Internet. Harold C. Schonberg called him a "super-virtuoso in the Horowitz class".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Wild

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