A gorgeous collection of impressionist sketches for solo piano -- including works by Debussy, American composer Griffes, Szymanowski, and Scriabin. Romantic and dreamy.

12 MP3 Songs
CLASSICAL: Impressionism, CLASSICAL: Debussy



Details:
about the artist

Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition and winner of Franceâs 2002 Concours International de Piano 20e siècle dâOrléans, Canadian pianist Winston Choi is an inquisitive performer whose fresh approach to standard repertory, and masterful understanding, performance and commitment to works by living composers, make him one of todayâs most dynamic young concert artists.

Choi has performed in recital and with orchestra across North America and Europe, and tours regularly with violinist Minghuan Xu as Duo Diorama. He is equally at home with standards from the piano literature â including many lesser known gems â and with music by living composers. His CD debut of the complete piano works of Elliott Carter received a rave review from BBC Music Magazine, ââ¦sheer élan and pianistic devilmentâ¦â, and the first volume of his recordings of the music of French composer Jacques Lenot was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque de lâAcadémie Charles Cros.

Choi began piano studies in Toronto with Vivienne Bailey and James Tweedie. He earned his bachelorâs and masterâs degrees at Indiana University, studying with Menahem Pressler. At the time of this recording, he is a doctoral student with Ursula Oppens at Northwestern University, where he also received his Certificate in Performance.

liner notes

If a recital program can be viewed as a âconstruction,â in terms of its overall shape or design, then Winston Choi has chosen apt pieces. Like any structure, there are preliminary plans â âsketchesâ and âimagesâ upon which to design. In the monument dedicated to Debussy by Schmitt, and in the sonata of Scriabin, there are references to and departures from other structures (in the latter, the preparation for an all-encompassing construction that would surpass in design anything previously done). And finally, in the Métopes, there is a direct parallel with an actual architectural paradigm, bringing the sense of construction to a tangible conclusion.

Similarly, just as nearly any design has at its roots the designs of others, throughout this recording are both works which have provided a foundation, and the new constructions that others have made with those images in mind. Schmitt, of course, writes in direct homage, and therefore in the style, of his dedicatee. Griffesâ and Szymanowskiâs works were written in the full bloom of the influences of impressionism and late romanticism. Debussy and Scriabin were the radicals, the original thinkers whose creative drives could not be fitted into pre-existing molds.

In the music, particularly the earlier music, written by American Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920), there are many characteristics of America itself; principally its fusion (perhaps even unconsciously) of a varied cultural mosaic into something quite definable as its own entity.

An aspiring pianist, Griffes left his native Elmira, New York, for Berlin just as he turned 19. It was during his studies there that he decided to pursue composition, studying sporadically with
Engelbert Humperdinck. In all, he spent four years in Germany, and it is not surprising that his first works written upon his return to New York had a strongly German-romantic feel. But following that initial outburst, Griffes turned to French models in the 1910s. His Roman Sketches, in fact, were not based on any trip he took to Italy, but on poems by Celtic poet William Sharp. The four movement set is very much in a French impressionist vein.

Published in 1917 as Griffesâ Opus 7, the Roman Sketches begins with The White Peacock, ââ¦all exotic plumage even in this barer piano solo versionâ wrote one scholar, a reference to the fact that this movement was extracted from the set and orchestrated, becoming a popular piece in the concert hall. The next movement is Nightfall, an evocatively dark and moody piece, though some rather jazz inspired chords work their way in. The water in The Fountain of the Acqua Paola sparkles and flows in right-hand ostinatos and broad arpeggios. In the final movement, Clouds tread steadily across the sky, while raindrops tumble out as discordant notes.

A strong influence on Griffesâ music was that of Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Like Griffes did with many of his impressionistic piano pieces, Debussy would often refrain from titling his pieces until after they had been written. Such is the case with his two sets of Images, the second of which was completed in January of 1908.

Each of the three Images in the second series is dedicated to a friend of Debussy. Cloches à travers les feuilles (âBells heard through the Leavesâ) is dedicated to sculptor Alexandre Charpentier, and was described by Louis Laloy as âthe tolling that sounds between vespers on All Souls Day and the mass for the dead, passing from village to village, through the yellowing forests in the silence of the evening.â

It is to Laloy that the second movement is dedicated, entitled Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut (âAnd the Moon goes down on the Ruined Templeâ). The title is an âAlexandrine,â a verse line of 12 syllables widely used in French poetry, and was written by Debussy himself. This and the preceding movement, âare among the most difficult interpretive problems in Debussy,â according to pianist and author David Dubal, due to a transparency rhythm breaks up and the dance itself dissolves, while echoes of the previous two movements reappear.

Notes © 2005 D.T. Baker