Composer: Jan Ladislav Dussek, Frédéric François Chopin
Performer: Michael Dussek
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Somm
Release: 2021
Size: 877 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Dussek: Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-Flat Major, Op. 35 No. 1, C. 149
01. I. Allegro moderato e maestoso
02. II. Finale. Allegro non troppo ma con spirito
Dussek: Piano Sonata No. 12 in G Major, Op. 35 No. 2, C. 150
03. I. Allegro
04. II. Rondo. Molto allegro, con espressione
Dussek: Piano Sonata No. 13 in C Minor, Op. 35 No. 3, C. 151
05. I. Allegro agitato assai
06. II. Adagio patetico et espressivo
07. III. Intermezzo. Presto – IV. Finale. Allegro molto
08. Chopin: Nocturne in F-Sharp Major, Op. 15 No. 2, B. 55
09. Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23, B. 66
“SOMM RECORDINGS is pleased to announce the return of pianist Michael Dussek to explore the music of his ancestor Jan Ladislav Dussek and its relationship to one of the piano repertoire’s most illustrious champions, Fryderyk Chopin. This fascinating recital reveals Dussek – a colourful character and favourite of Marie Antoinette whose talents took him throughout Europe and Russia – as “revolutionary in his approach to both composition and pianism” and makes a persuasive argument for Dussek’s influence on Chopin. In his informative booklet notes, Michael Dussek makes the case for his namesake’s music being the product of a composer “very much ahead of his time in the development of a Romantic piano style” (Grove Music). The disc’s centrepiece is the Op.35 Piano Sonatas (Nos.11-13), the B-flat major Sonata a crucible of ideas accommodating the rustic lyricism of his native Bohemia, a contrapuntal sophistication that would find full flowering in his later Messe Solennelle, and an anticipation of what would become a Chopin signature. Completing the disc are two pinnacles of the piano repertoire: Chopin’s exquisite Nocturne, Op.15 No.2, and the lyrical, rapturously intense Ballade No.1 in G minor.”