The front illustration of this album, 'The Marvel of Marvels' (1912) by Henry Brokman-Knudsen, is from the Musée de la Ville de Paris.
Composition History
Nielsen's piano works fall into two categories: pedagogical pieces for amateurs and children, and large-scale, challenging works comparable to his symphonies.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Nielsen's relative lack of practical piano expertise seems to have liberated his compositional imagination, making his piano works among the most original in the literature.
Composer Biography
Carl Nielsen's piano playing was considered "patchy at best," as evidenced by a recently discovered wax cylinder recording of him.
Composer's Artistic Vision
A fundamental dualism underlies much of Nielsen's piano music, combining a tactile exploration of the keyboard with a spirit of imagination and adventure.
Composer Biography
At a 1926 reception in Paris, Carl Nielsen, despite being honored with the Légion d'Honneur, chose to play a Mozart fantasy on the piano rather than one of his own works, perhaps acknowledging his modest pianistic abilities.
Compositional Technique
Nielsen's 'Arabesque' from his Five Piano Pieces, Op. 3, is notable for its harmonic waywardness, foreshadowing his later compositional style.
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