12 ÉTUDES IN ALL THE MINOR KEYS
1
Étude No 1 in A minor ‘Triple Étude, after Chopin'[2’15]
2
Étude No 2 in E minor ‘Coma Berenices'[2’51]
3
Étude No 3 in B minor ‘after Paganini-Liszt'[4’59]
4
Étude No 4 in C minor ‘Étude à mouvement perpétuellement semblable, after Alkan'[3’59]
5
Étude No 5 in G minor ‘Toccata grottesca'[4’38]
6
Étude No 6 in D minor ‘Esercizio per pianoforte, Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti'[3’31]
7
Étude No 7 in E flat minor ‘after Tchaikovsky, for the left hand alone'[5’01]
8
Étude No 8 in B flat minor ‘Erlkönig, after Goethe'[4’44]
9
Étude No 9 in F minor ‘after Rossini'[3’48]
10
Étude No 10 in F sharp minor ‘after Chopin'[2’01]
11
Étude No 11 in C sharp minor ‘Minuetto'[6’27]
12
Étude No 12 in A flat minor ‘Prelude and Fugue'[6’09]
13
Little Nocturne[2’15]
Con intimissimo sentimento
14
Ländler I[2’21]
15
Album Leaf[2’12]
16
Music Box[2’00]
17
After Pergolesi[3’49]
18
Berceuse, in tempore belli[2’34]
Theme and variations ‘Cathy’s Variations'[10’37]
19
Theme: Con semplicità, eleganza e tenerezza[1’55]
20
Variation 1: Più mosso, corrente[1’06]
21
Variation 2: L’istesso tempo, ma cantabile[1’28]
22
Variation 3: Molto più moderato, poco rubato[2’55]
23
Variation 4: Poco animato ma cantabile e senza prestezza[1’40]
24
Envoi: A capriccio[1’33]
Hamelin plays Hamelin: a glimpse into the fabulously bizarre musical mind of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of today. The pianophile population has been clamouring for this disc for some time.
Marc-André Hamelin’s 12 Études, written over a period of nearly twenty-five years, have already achieved cult status by reputation as pianistic challenges beyond the reach of most human fingers. They are also highly-wrought character pieces. That they will immediately take their place in the concert repertoire of any pianist who thinks themself equal to them is indicated by their contemporaenous publication by Peters Edition New York.
The disc is completed by more of Hamelin’s compositions: the quiet and reflective Con intissimo sentimento, and the love poem ‘Cathy’s Variations’. As a whole it is a detailed portrait of this most talented and complex musician.