Cécile Chaminade - Piano Works Vol. 3 (Peter Jacobs)

Information

Composer: Cécile Chaminade

1. 3 Préludes mélodiques, Op. 84: No. 3 in D minor
2. Pièces romantiques, Op. 55c: 3. Rigaudon
3. Les sylvains, Op. 60
4. Valse-ballet "Sixième valse", Op. 112
5. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: 3. Inquiétude
6. Arabesque, Op. 61
7. Troisième valse brillante, Op. 80
8. Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 21: 1. Allegro appassionato
9. Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 21: 2. Andante
10. Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 21: 3. Allegro
11. Album des enfants, Op. 126 (deuxième série): 1. Idylle
12. Album des enfants, Op. 123 (première  série): 5. Gavotte
13. Album des enfants, Op. 123 (première  série): 4. Rondeau
14. Album des enfants, Op. 123 (première  série): 9. Orientale
15. Album des enfants, Op. 126 (deuxième série): 2. Aubade
16. Album des enfants, Op. 126 (deuxième série): 9. Patrouille
17. Album des enfants, Op. 126 (deuxième série): 10. Villanelle
18. Album des enfants, Op. 123 (première  série): 10. Tarentelle
19. Poèmes provençales, Op. 127: 3. Le passé
20. Sérénade espagnole, Op. 150
21. Quatrième valse, Op. 91
22. Cortège "Fragment", Op. 143

Peter Jacobs, piano
Date: 1995
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55199

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Review

It is symptomatic of the present day that, when many people find contemporary music browfurrowing, if not repellent, there should be a ready market for music from an earlier age that makes no bid for profundity but is undemandingly agreeable. Cecile Chaminade's works are enjoying something of a comeback, with recordings now available not only of her voluminous piano output (from Eric Parkin on Chandos as well as the more wholesale Peter Jacobs) but of her piano trios and Flute Concerto; and her craftsmanship, talent for graceful melodic inventiveness, easy natural charm and effective keyboard writing are indisputable even by those whose tastes are for more elaborate or more solid fare.

This latest volume from Peter Jacobs offers eight of her children's pieces of Opp. 123 and 126 — small but far from the conventional pap so often palmed off on children, as is shown by the scintillating Tarantelle (which is not all that easy!). There are more substantial concert works here too: the emotional Le passe, the once very popular Sèrenade espagnole which Kreisler took up, and the immensely engaging Troisieme Valse brillante. Since Chaminade is usually thought of as a miniaturist, however, the big eye-opener here is a relatively early C minor Sonata which, if not a masterpiece, reveals that as well as knowing her Chopin and Schumann she had a firm sense of form and an enviable abundance of ideas; the lyrical Andante is unexpectedly thoughtful, and the spirited finale goes well beyond Norman Demuth's rather patronizing remark that she was "nearly a genius who knew what and how to write for pianists of moderate ability" — which perhaps is best exemplified here in a brilliant D minor Prelude that sounds harder than it is.

As in the previous volumes (9/92 and 11/94), Peter Jacobs shows himself to be fluent, clean-fingered, elegantly delicate where required, and able to invest the music with fine nuances of tone and pace — an ideal interpreter of Chaminade.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone [11/1996]

More reviews:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/piano-music-by-c%C3%A9cile-chaminade-vol-3-mw0001342264

http://www.amazon.com/Chaminade-Piano-Music-Vol-3/dp/B000002ZXA

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Cécile Chaminade (8 August 1857 – 13 April 1944) was a French composer and pianist, one of the relatively few women composers of her time to achieve great popularity. She was a regular on British concert stages and a big hit in America. Many of Chaminade's piano compositions received good reviews from critics; her music was described as tuneful, highly accessible and mildly chromatic. Chaminade was relegated to obscurity for the second half of the 20th century, as her piano pieces and songs mostly forgotten. The Flute Concertino in D major, Op. 107 (1902) is her most popular piece today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9cile_Chaminade

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Peter Jacobs (born August 17, 1945 in London) is an English pianist. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied piano with Alexander Kelley and harmony with Eric Fenby. Jacobs has etched out a career built largely on the performance of works by lesser-known and neglected English and French composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries. He has made numerous recordings for several labels, including Hyperion, Olympia, Continuum, Priory Records UK, and Altarus. Jacobs also served on the faculty of Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, West London.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Jacobs-Peter.htm

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