Leopold Godowsky, a composer and pianist, aimed to explore inner meanings and hidden beauties in Bach's works, believing that only the orchestra or piano could fully express Bach's monumental ideas.
Compositional Technique
Unlike other transcribers of Bach, Leopold Godowsky freely added contrapuntal lines and enriched the harmony in his transcriptions, often devising new contrapuntal parts and harmonic modifications.
Performer Biography
Emanuele Delucchi, the pianist on this album, is the first Italian to have performed and recorded the Piano Concerto by Charles-Valentin Alkan, a French composer and virtuoso pianist.
Album & Artwork
This is Emanuele Delucchi's fourth album dedicated to the art of Leopold Godowsky, focusing on pianistic counterpoint and polyphony.
Recording & Production
For this album, Emanuele Delucchi played an 1879 Steinway piano from the collection of Marco Barletta, chosen for its warm and poetic sound.
Compositional Technique
Leopold Godowsky's Symphonische Metamorphosen Johann Strauss'scher Themen and his paraphrase on Weber's Invitation to the Dance are considered among the most complex piano pieces on dance themes, often weaving three themes together contrapuntally.
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