Marcel Mihalovici: Piano Music
The ‘École de Paris’ was a group of composers from central and eastern Europe who made the French capital their home in the 1920s and ’30s. One of their number was the Romanian Marcel Mihalovici, born in Bucharest in 1898 and based in Paris from 1919 until his death in 1985 – one of the most significant of twentieth-century composers who has yet to receive the recognition he deserves. This first album dedicated to his piano music traces his stylistic evolution, the early blend of French insouciance, echoes of eastern European folk-music and Neo-Classical contrapuntal clarity gradually taking a tougher turn and blending Bartók and Bach. It ends with a monumental passacaglia for the left hand alone, one of the most daunting summits of the piano literature.
Matthew Rubenstein, piano
All Except * First recordings
Listen To This Recording:
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Sonatine, Op. 11 (1922-23)
- I Allegro moderato
- II Andante semplice
- III Toccata (Vivace)
- No. 1 Con eleganza
- No. 2 Mosso
- No. 3 Andantino e misterioso
- No. 4 Allegro furioso
- Theme: Poco lento (tempo di passacaglia)
- Var. 1: Un poco più mosso
- Var. 2: Andante, non troppo
- Var. 3: Allegro ben ritmato
- Var. 4: Allegro giusto
- Var. 5: Lento sostenuto
- Var. 6: Leggiero, con moto
- Var. 7: Andantino
- Var. 8: Allegretto capriccioso, ma molto ritmato
- Var. 9: Molto vivace
- Fugue: Grave, più tosto moderato
- No. 1 Andantino
- No. 2 Allegro
- No. 3 Lento
- No. 4 Allegro
- I Allegretto piacevole
- II Lento improvisando – e sempre con un sentimento assai barocco
- III Allegro giacoso
- Theme: Grave – Mesto
- Var. 1
- Var. 2
- Var. 3 Semplice
- Var. 4 Espressivo – sognando
- Var. 5 Più mosso
- Var. 6
- Var. 7 Tranquilo
- Var. 8
- Var. 9 Lento senza alcuna espressione
- Var. 10 Più animato
- Var. 11 Mosso subito – virtuoso
- Var. 12 Lento subito
- Var. 13 Stesso
- Var. 14 Vivo (con virtuosità )
- Var. 15 Meno
- Var. 16 Moderato pensieroso
- Var. 17 Calmo, sempre pensieroso
- Var. 18 Liberamente – quasi una cadenza
Quatre Caprices, Op. 29 (1928)
Ricercari, Op. 46 (1941)*
Quatre Pastorales, Op. 62 (1950)
Sonate, Op. 90 (1964)*
Passacaille (pour la main gauche), Op. 105 (1975)
MusicWeb International :
‘Excellently recorded, this is yet another in Toccata’s superior explorations of seldom-explored elements of the repertoire. Mihalovici’s piano music can be a slightly harder nut to crack than his friend Harsányi’s but it’s a nut very well worth cracking. Try it and see.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International