GODOWSKY: Strauss transcriptions & other waltzes – Marc-André Hamelin Hyperion

Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen[38’01]Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
1
Künstlerleben[14’55]Walzermasken
2
No 2: Pastell[2’05]3
No 14: Französisch[2’42]4
No 22: Wienerisch[2’56]5
No 24: Portrait—Joh. Str.[6’02]Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen[38’01]Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
6
Die Fledermaus[11’04]Triakontameron
7
No 4: Rendezvous[2’46]8
No 11: Alt Wien[2’39]9
No 13: Terpsichorean Vindobona[2’09]10
No 21: The Salon[3’02]11
No 25: Memories[3’48]Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss’scher Themen[38’01]Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
12
Wein, Weib und Gesang[12’02]Die letzte WalzerOscar Straus (1870-1954)
13
Theme: Waltz[2’33]

Marc-André Hamelin’s programme is mostly devoted to Godowsky’s works based on themes by—or directly inspired by—Johann Strauss II. It is not intended to be a comprehensive survey but is, nevertheless, fully representative of Godowsky’s finest reflections on the Waltz King. In the three great Strauss transcriptions, Godowsky elevated the art of the piano paraphrase to a higher musical and pianistic plane; however their extreme technical difficulty remains a striking feature and places them out of the reach of ordinary pianists. And Marc-André Hamelin is, of course, no ordinary pianist—in fact his playing on a recent disc was compared to that of Alkan and Liszt.

Triakontameron and Walzermasken are rarely performed examples of Godowsky’s original work, and continue the composer’s love-affair with the waltz—they are written entirely in 3/4 time.

The last work on this dazzling disc is an oddity—indeed, a rarity. Sometime prior to 1925, Godowsky made a piano roll of his arrangement of The Last Waltz by Oscar Straus (1870–1954), the Vienna-born composer. The eponymous Waltz is heard throughout the 1920 operetta. The music of Godowsky’s transcription was never published for some unknown reason—it is a uniquely appealing arrangement. In the early 1970s, Gilles Hamelin, the pianophile father of Marc-André, notated, arranged and edited The Last Waltz from Godowsky’s piano roll, which was then published in 1975. Shortly afterwards, a copy of the negative of Godowsky’s manuscript was sent to Gilles Hamelin. It was all but illegible, so Hamelin Snr. made a fair copy in his own hand: in almost every respect it tallied with the version he had transcribed from the piano roll.