Pianist Nicholas Angelich has earned kudos for recordings of mainstream 19th century repertoire. He doesn't stray far from that mainstream on Dedication, but he does have a novel concept: the three works on the album were each dedicated to the composer of one of the others. The notes to this Erato release sketch out only briefly the relationships among the three composers, who represented different strains in Romantic musical thinking, but recognized and respected the talents of the others. Do the dedications rediscovered ...
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Pianist Nicholas Angelich has earned kudos for recordings of mainstream 19th century repertoire. He doesn't stray far from that mainstream on Dedication, but he does have a novel concept: the three works on the album were each dedicated to the composer of one of the others. The notes to this Erato release sketch out only briefly the relationships among the three composers, who represented different strains in Romantic musical thinking, but recognized and respected the talents of the others. Do the dedications rediscovered here shed new light on the music? Certainly they illuminate aspects of musical thinking that the composers held in common. Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor was his only mature work designated as an abstract sonata, and its dedication to Schumann, the mid-century carrier of the Beethovenian legacy, perhaps reflects that. Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16, in turn reflects the harmonic adventures of Chopin (of whom Schumann famously enthused, "Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!), and Chopin's...
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