Credits:

Tal & Groethuysen

Description:

Master Piano Duo Reveals the Undiscovered Esprit of French Music Avec Esprit, a new album of elegant and charming works by French composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, once again demonstrates the award-winning piano duo of Thal & Groothuizen once again demonstrate their remarkable ability to explore beautiful rarities. Two works written by Louis-Théodore Gouvy (1819-1898) have special significance for this piano duo, which in the early 1990s produced its first album entirely devoted to this composer's works. Gouvy was born in Gofontaine near Saarbrücken. He was born in Gofontaine, near Saarbrücken, and was a composer who lived between French and German cultures, and this is reflected in his style. His works, numbering over 90, are multidisciplinary, and his musical style is somewhere between Mendelssohn and Schumann, with a profound, elegant, and solid structure, but with a distinctive sweet and sumptuous sound and gestures. These two pieces are chosen as examples of the high artistry with which he worked on lively works with charming melodies and effective techniques. Saint-Saens' "Variations on a Theme of Beethoven," Op. 35 (1874), after a short improvisatory introduction, presents the minuet and trio theme from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 18, followed by 10 variations, including a Baroque-style fugue.Saint-Saëns' musical language is concise and classicist, but also virtuous and humorous. Pianist and composer Theophile Isaï (1865-1918), brother of the famous violinist Eugène, has worked in a very wide range of genres, although to date he has received little attention. His Variations, Op. 10, recorded to showcase his talent, is highly artistic and impressionistic with rich harmonies reminiscent of Franck. The "Tourbillon" (meaning "whirlpool" or "gale") by French composer Marguerite Mélan Geroux (1848-1936) is a "true discovery! It is a "true discovery". Little is known about her either, but the lively, romantic character of this piece, dedicated to Saint-Saens, suggests that Guerroux was an integral part of the musical life of Paris at the time. Sony Music

Tracklisting:

1.Sonata in D Minor, Op. 66~I. Largo maestoso - Allegro
2.Sonata in D Minor, Op. 66~II. Adagio cantabile
3.Sonata in D Minor, Op. 66~III. Allegro vivo
4.Lilli Bullero. Variations sur un Air Anglais, Op. 62
5.Variations, Op. 10
6.Variations sur un Theme de Beethoven, Op. 35
7.Tourbillon