Composer: Moritz Moszkowski
Performer: Ian Hobson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC 0660
Release: 2022
Size: 702 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
6 Klavierstücke, Op. 15
01. No. 1, Serenata
02. No. 2, Arabesque
03. No. 3, Mazurka
04. No. 4, Canon
05. No. 5, Walzer
06. No. 6, Barcarole
3 Klavierstücke in Tanzform, Op. 17
07. No. 1, Polonaise
08. No. 2, Menuett
09. No. 3, Walzer
5 Klavierstücke, Op. 18
10. No. 1, Melodie
11. No. 2, Scherzino
12. No. 3, Étude
13. No. 4, Marcia
14. No. 5, Polonaise
Although Moritz Moszkowski (1854–1925) wrote a considerable quantity of piano music, only a single piece, ‘Étincelles’, made it into the repertoire, not least because Horowitz enjoyed playing it. The early works on this second instalment in Ian Hobson’s survey of Moszkowski’s complete music for solo piano reveal a debt to Mendelssohn and Schumann, but the effortless craftsmanship to be heard here already justifies a later remark of Paderewski’s: ‘After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano, and his writing embraces the whole gamut of piano technique’. Most of the pieces in Opp. 15 and 18 are attractive salon miniatures, but the Three Piano Pieces in Dance Form, Op. 17, are extended Lisztian essays that showcase Moszkowski’s mastery of the keyboard and his command of form.