Henri Herz - Piano Music (Philip Martin)

Information

Composer: Henri Herz

1. Deuxième thème original avec introduction et variations, Op. 81
2. Variations on 'Non più mesta' from Rossini's La Cenerentola, Op. 60
3. Trois Nocturnes caractéristiques, Op. 45: 1. La dolcezza
4. Trois Nocturnes caractéristiques, Op. 45: 2. La melanconia
5. Trois Nocturnes caractéristiques, Op. 45: 3. La semplicità
6. Première Ballade, Op. 117 No. 1
7. Le mouvement perpétuel, Op. 91 No. 3
8. Fantaisie dramatique, Op. 89
9. Deuxième ballade, Op. 117 No. 2
10. Fantaisie et variations sur des airs nationaux américains variés, Op. 158

Philip Martin, piano
Date: 2008
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67606

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

As the piano came into its own in the mid-19th century, the Vienna-born/French-based Henri Herz (1803-1888) all but dominated the scene as a brilliant virtuoso, popular teacher, and best-selling composer. Listening to this first CD entirely devoted to his solo piano works, you can understand Herz’s one-time appeal, as well as why his music predeceased him. As the Op. 81 variations, the nocturnes, and the ballades demonstrate, Herz was a charming yet unmemorable melodist, whose intricate yet harmonically bland keyboard textures go in one ear and out the other. Flashy devices such as tremolos and repeated notes (Herz adored repeated notes) tend to wear out their welcome long after they’ve made their virtuosic point. You sense this in long stretches of the Fantasie dramatique (based upon “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”) and in Op. 158’s “Yankee Doodle” section. And Le mouvement perpetual owes its existence to Weber’s earlier and far more concise rondo finale from the Piano Sonata No. 1.

Herz may not be a great composer, yet his stuff certainly is fun to digest in small doses, especially when you consider Philip Martin’s appropriately light and colorful touch, supple finger work, and marvelous sense of dramatic timing. Jeremy Nicholas’ fair-minded and informative notes discuss each work in the context of its time. Collectors who dote on the rare Romantics need no prodding to acquire this excellently engineered release.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/jan/25/classicalmusicandopera.shopping3
https://www.audaud.com/piano-music-of-henri-herz-philip-martin-piano-hyperion/
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-herz-piano-1207.shtml
https://www.allmusic.com/album/herz-piano-music-mw0001852128
https://www.amazon.com/Herz-Piano-Music-Philip-Martin/dp/B000Z6OLP4

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Henri Herz (6 January 1803 - 5 January 1888) was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile. A celebrated pianist, Herz traveled worldwide, including tours in Europe, Russia, Mexico, South America, and in the United States of America between 1846–50, where he concertized all the way to San Francisco. Herz composed many pieces, the opus numbers of his published works reaching 224. Among his major works are 8 piano concertos, a piano sonata, rondos, nocturnes, waltzes, marches, fantasias, and numerous sets of variations. Herz taught at the Paris Conservatoire between 1842 and 1874.

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

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Philip Martin (born 1947 in Dublin) is an Irish pianist, composer, and piano pedagogue. Martin studied with Franz Reizenstein at the Royal Academy of Music. He later studied privately with Louis Kentner in London and Yvonne Lefebure in Paris. As a pianist, he has an extensive repertoire of over 60 concertos, and has performed in such diverse countries as France, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the USA and Canada, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Mexico. As a composer, Martin is prolific; his output includes a symphony, 3 piano concertos, over 300 songs and many instrumental and chamber works.
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A636
https://www.philipmartinpianistcomposer.com/

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