Various Composers - 'Nocturne' Piano encores [Oppitz]
This is one of the very best piano solo compilation discs i have in my collection, a great and varied selection of things, varied selection of composers too, and Oppitz finds his way off the beaten track, into some less well known pieces, but no Schubert or Brahms?, also the title of the disc 'Nocturne', i really don't understand how that fits in with some of the pieces, nevertheless it's not the title i listened to, really enjoyed this today, this disc appeared in my Blog three years ago [24th May 2012].
Gerhard Oppitz is German, he's now 62, this disc was recorded in 1993, the booklet cover shows a black & white portrait of Oppitz [by Alfred Steffen], caught as a silhouette on the left side, great use of a lot of black, and yet a white background to bring out the contrast, the lettering could have been better, but all round a wonderful finished product.
On this listen i loved track 12 the most, Faure's Noctune 4, this originally got me into Faure's solo piano music, it's the best thing on the disc, and probably Faure's best Nocturne, in a blind test i feel you could slip it into a set of Chopin's Nocturnes and nobody would notice!, maybe a cross between Chopin's 4 and 8, a simple enough tune i guess, but a beautiful one too, the 'theme' is restated i guess an octave higher in the right hand [0:59+] with great effect, but then comes a huge middle section [1:57+], which is a lot more interesting than the opening, with some tender moments, the music falls down the keyboard, the left hand produces a lovely accompanying rhythm, the Nocturne is in E Flat Major, but changes to E Flat Minor, you can feel the dip into the sadness / melancholy, the right hand producing the sound of tolling of bells, but like Chopin his nocturnes are not all gentle, there's stormy central episodes, and so it is here, the music develops into something a bit more angry [3:02+], some great use of loud notes high in the treble, the music reaches some impassioned climaxes as some points [4:10-4:35], i love the way Faure quietens down the music ready for the transition back to the opening [5:14+], but it's not a simple restatement and end, Faure adds a sort of coda of sorts onto the end, and there's i guess this sort of epilogue [6:45+], at the very end there's this melody gently rumbled in the bass [7:53-8:03], a great end to a really ingenious piece of piano music.
Here's Nathan Chim playing Faure's Nocturne 4 on YouTube.
Gerhard Oppitz is German, he's now 62, this disc was recorded in 1993, the booklet cover shows a black & white portrait of Oppitz [by Alfred Steffen], caught as a silhouette on the left side, great use of a lot of black, and yet a white background to bring out the contrast, the lettering could have been better, but all round a wonderful finished product.
On this listen i loved track 12 the most, Faure's Noctune 4, this originally got me into Faure's solo piano music, it's the best thing on the disc, and probably Faure's best Nocturne, in a blind test i feel you could slip it into a set of Chopin's Nocturnes and nobody would notice!, maybe a cross between Chopin's 4 and 8, a simple enough tune i guess, but a beautiful one too, the 'theme' is restated i guess an octave higher in the right hand [0:59+] with great effect, but then comes a huge middle section [1:57+], which is a lot more interesting than the opening, with some tender moments, the music falls down the keyboard, the left hand produces a lovely accompanying rhythm, the Nocturne is in E Flat Major, but changes to E Flat Minor, you can feel the dip into the sadness / melancholy, the right hand producing the sound of tolling of bells, but like Chopin his nocturnes are not all gentle, there's stormy central episodes, and so it is here, the music develops into something a bit more angry [3:02+], some great use of loud notes high in the treble, the music reaches some impassioned climaxes as some points [4:10-4:35], i love the way Faure quietens down the music ready for the transition back to the opening [5:14+], but it's not a simple restatement and end, Faure adds a sort of coda of sorts onto the end, and there's i guess this sort of epilogue [6:45+], at the very end there's this melody gently rumbled in the bass [7:53-8:03], a great end to a really ingenious piece of piano music.
Here's Nathan Chim playing Faure's Nocturne 4 on YouTube.
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