Cécile Chaminade - Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Mark Viner)

Information

Composer: Cécile Chaminade

1. L'Ondine, Op. 101
2. Pas des echarpes, 3me air de ballet, Op. 37
3. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: I. Réveil
4. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: II. Sous bois
5. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: III. Inquiétude
6. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: IV. Autrefois
7. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: V. Consolation
8. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: VI. Norwégienne
9. Guitare, Op. 32
10. Au pays dévasté, Op. 155
11. Danse créole, 2me havanaise, Op. 94
12. Etude romantique, Op. 132
13. Etude pathétique, Op. 124
14. Etude mélodique, Op. 118
15. Etude humoristique, Op. 138
16. Etude symphonique, Op. 28
17. Etude scolastique, Op. 139
18. Sérénade, Op. 29
19. Lolita, caprice espagnol, Op. 54

Mark Viner, piano

Date: 2022

Label: Piano Classics

https://www.piano-classics.com/articles/c/chaminade-piano-music-volume-2/

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Cécile Chaminade’s well crafted, idiomatic, communicative, and utterly charming solo piano works are more and more finding their way to disc. I’m not certain if Mark Viner’s second Piano Classics release devoted to this composer signifies a complete cycle in the works, yet his robust virtuosity and overall dynamism vibrantly elevate this repertoire from the salon to the stage.

L’Ondine’s pearly runs, for example, tellingly contrast to the full-bodied chordal climaxes, while Viner makes more of Au pays dévasté’s brooding countenance than others. He brings a probing deliberation and almost tragic spin to the familiar Autrefois from the 6 Pièces humoristiques Op. 87 in a reading that radically differs from Joanne Polk’s fleeting, cameo-like treatment. Viner’s quickly flickering left-hand arpeggios in Guitare lilt in a manner that evokes Chaminade’s piano roll interpretation. If Polk’s Etude romantique Op. 132 is crisper and more incisively articulated than Viner’s, his Etude symphonique Op. 28 conveys greater textural depth, while the Etude scholastique Op. 139’s tarantella-like figurations effortlessly click their heels. Viner’s detailed and insightful annotations flesh out this most welcome release.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

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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/Cécile_Chaminade

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Mark Viner, born in 1989, is recognised as one of the most exciting British concert pianists of his generation and is becoming increasingly well-known for his bold championing of unfamiliar pianistic terrain. Viner studied at the Purcell School of Music with Tessa Nicholson, then at the Royal College of Music with Niel Immelman, graduating with a distinction in 2013. Viner won 1st prize at the Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition in Athens, Greece in 2012. He is very active in the recording studio and his recordings on the Piano Classics label have garnered critical acclaim.

https://www.markviner.com/

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