Rameau, J.-P.: Keyboard Music (A Basket of Wild Strawberries)

Featuring

Tzimon Barto
Jean-Philippe Rameau

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Performer Biography

Tzimon Barto, the pianist on this album, received his first piano lessons from his grandmother at the age of five.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Jean-Philippe Rameau, the composer, revolutionized harmony by studying the overtone series and believing that the original impulse for music was harmony, not melody.

Interpretation

Pianist Tzimon Barto approaches Rameau's keyboard music from the perspective of a singer, aiming for a variety of colors and phrasing, and striving for poetic expression in every phrase.

Performer Biography

Beyond his musical career, Tzimon Barto is a polyglot, fluent in four languages, and studies Homeric Greek, Classical Latin, Biblical Hebrew, Farsi, and Mandarin.

Album & Artwork

The album's cover painting, 'Le Panier des fraises des bois' (A Basket of Wild Strawberries), was created by Jean Siméon Chardin in 1760/61.

Compositional Technique

Rameau's opera orchestrations were notably varied, using effects to depict different types of people or to imitate natural sounds, leading pianist Tzimon Barto to call him an 'Impressionist'.

Performer Biography

Pianist Tzimon Barto achieved his international breakthrough in the mid-1980s after being invited by Herbert von Karajan to perform at the Vienna Musikverein and Salzburg Festival.