Various Composers - Piano Nocturnes [Oppitz]
An intriguingly titled disc, 'noctune' suggests a recital of Chopin sound-alikes, but rather the theme is probably more 'the night', as some pieces are far from gentle, it's good to have a nice variety, 13 pieces and 13 Composers, working vaguely from earliest composed to latest, a generous 77 minutes of music, ranging from nearly 3 minutes to over 9 minutes, but no Brahms, Prokofiev or Schubert, i like these 'compilations', a disc full of only one Composer can stretch the quality of certain Composers, but it's easy to accommodate the less obvious if you only choose one piece, and it's ideal to play on 'random', never quite knowing what you're going to get next.
Gerhard Oppitz is German, now 59, he recorded this disc in 1993, the front cover photograph [by Alfred Steffen] is excellent, a stunning black and white portrait, especially notable for its deep blacks in the darker end of the spectrum, nice sharp enough picture, and the face caught superbly in one half light, and the other dark, nicely going with the theme of night / day, the left eye is not altogether blacked out, and a nice highlight gives an impression in the gloom, a great visual statement.
Tracks 1, 4-6, 8-9 & 11-13 were the highlights, with track 12, Faure's Nocturne 4 as the standout track, like a Chopin Nocturne, and yet more towards composed by Satie than anyone Polish, there's a gentle simplicity to the piece,
Here's Faure's Fourth Nocturne being played on YouTube.
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