Octo_Russ

Various Composers - 'Liebestraume' Piano Encores [Spanswick] 

This disc appeared in my Blog early this year [13th January 2012], so it's getting great exposure, Spanswick is not a household name, not really a Concert Pianist, she seems more on the periphery, but i like well chosen recital programmes like this, though not everything is what i would have chosen, and i would have included other Composers, notably Faure, Prokofiev, Ravel, Schubert [a big omission], and Albeniz, less Debussy and Chopin, possibly more Brahms, but it's still a great mix, which is best played on random / shuffle, as it mixes up the same Composer that remains unmixed played straight, with 71 minutes of music, it's great value for money too.

Melanie Spanswick is English i take it, she doesn't live that far from me!, she recorded this disc in 2002, the front cover is an excellent one [photograph by Hilary Shedel], showing her sitting at the piano, with her back to the instrument, lovely dress, and the curly hair..., it's a great perspective, lots of interesting things in the photograph, plus it's good that she's not central to the picture, but it equally shows the piano, my copy is signed by her, which is a nice extra touch, a lovely disc to own.

Well in listening to this today, i was especially taken aback by tracks 1-2 & 11, i would like to talk about each, and as i spoke about track 11 Liszt's 'Un Sospiro' last time, i would like to talk about track 2 Mozart's 'Rondo Alla Turca' this time, it's the last movement of his Piano Sonata 11, but it stands up as an individual piece very well, it's in Rondo form, which means the whole things keeps coming around again and again, rather like a horse on a carousel, very nice use of the treble keys, with two distinct sections, the opening tune, and a counter melody response [0:47-1:02], both are wonderful, and they nicely juxtapose each other, almost encouraging each other to greater heights, it's only near the end that the second melody tune branches out into a thrilling finale [3:05+], the legato of the whole piece is very delicious!.

Here's Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca' being played on YouTube, you can easily see the keys / fingering.