[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA67656

£13.99

Marc-André Hamelin’s technical and interpretative brilliance over an extraordinarily wide range of repertoire has placed him firmly in the top rank of living pianists. His recent recordings of Alkan and Haydn were universally acclaimed in the highest terms. In this latest recording, Hyperion presents Marc-André Hamelin ‘in a state of jazz’, as he turns his attention to the music of Kapustin, Antheil, Gulda and Weissenberg—all composers who felt keenly that there was a fundamental desire on the part of the concert-going public to hear something different. This wonderful disc is full of surprises—as Hamelin writes in his entertaining yet scholarly liner notes, ‘There is no jazz in this recording. At least not in the traditional sense … There is much to be enjoyed here, and much to be amazed by’.

Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, on 10–12 July 2007
Recording Engineer
SIMON EADON
Recording Producer
ANDREW KEENER
Piano
STEINWAY & SONS
Booklet Editor
TIM PARRY
Executive Producers
SIMON PERRY
MICHAEL SPRING
© Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MMVIII

Duration: 69'07
DDD
Front illustration by JULIE DOUCET

Marc-André Hamelin in a state of jazz

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN piano

Contents:

    FRIEDRICH GULDA (1930–2000)
  1. Exercise No 1 from Play Piano Play (10 Übungsstücke für Klavier, 1971) Moderato [1'45]

    NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN (b1937)
    Sonata No 2 Op 54 [21'49]

  2. Allegro molto [9'03]
  3. Scherzo: Allegro assai [3'52]
  4. Largo — Allegro [5'14]
  5. Allegro vivace [3'30]

    FRIEDRICH GULDA

  6. Exercise No 4 from Play Piano Play Allegro ma non troppo [3'58]

    ALEXIS WEISSENBERG (b1929)
    Sonate en état de jazz (Sonata in a state of jazz, 1982) [19'26]

  7. Evocation d’un tango [4'51]
  8. Réminiscence d’un charleston [3'02]
  9. Reflets d’un blues [5'12]
  10. Provocation de samba [6'10]

    FRIEDRICH GULDA

  11. Exercise No 5 from Play Piano Play Moderato, poco mosso [2'20]
  12. Prelude and Fugue 1965 [3'42]

    ALEXIS WEISSENBERG
    Six arrangements of songs sung by Charles Trenet [14'13]

  13. Coin de rue (Charles Trenet, 1913–2001) [3'26]
  14. Vous oubliez votre cheval (Charles Trenet and Arcady Brachlianoff, 1912–2001) [1'24]
  15. En Avril, à Paris (Charles Trenet and Walter Eiger, b1917) [3'23]
  16. Boum! (Charles Trenet) [1'48]
  17. Vous qui passez sans me voir (Johnny Hess, 1915–1983, and Paul Misraki, 1908–1998) [2'50]
  18. Ménilmontant (Charles Trenet) [1'00]

    GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900–1959)

  19. Jazz Sonata 1922/3 [1'30]
Sleeve Notes

DIAPASON D'OR
BBC R3 CD REVIEW DISC OF THE WEEK
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

'… Played with such astounding agility and aplomb that you end up mesmerised by virtually every bar. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that no other pianist could approach Hamelin in such music. Notes pour and cascade like diamonds from his fingers and he has an inborn flair for the music's wild, free-wheeling melodies and rhythms, for its glittering whimsy and caprice … Superbly presented and recorded, this is a special addition to Hamelin's towering and unique discography' (Gramophone)

'The Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin possesses one of those musical brains that spark with maddening brilliance in whatever direction takes his fancy … It's hard to believe Hamelin didn't grow up within earshot of some dubious jazz haunt in New Orleans or Harlem … As Hamelin explains in his enjoyably lucid booklet notes, Gulda's astonishing pianistic pedigree deserves to be seen in a far wider context … Hamelin's evocations of these are wonderfully whimsical yet as crisp as celery. The syncopations 'sit' so comfortably under his fingers - exactly the right balance between ambition and restraint, warmth and edge - a pretty rare commodity in the performance of classical repertoire, let alone jazz-inspired music … This is a lovely, lovely disc; I highly recommend it (International Record Review)

'Although this fine recording is entitled ' In a State of Jazz' it includes no true jazz - every note is written down - but for all that it bursts with the daring vitality that is the hallmark of the best improvised music' (Observer)

'Hamelin plays with such dexterous panache that he puts back much of the heat that the formalisation of jazz as 'composition' removes … Dazzling and enchanting' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Nikolai Kapustin's remarkable Sonata No 2 is a convincing integration of classical form with jazz. Alexis Weissenberg's Sonata in a State of Jazz, which evokes tango, Charleston, blues and samba in its four movements, is more idiosyncratic but no less dazzling' (The Scotsman)

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