Romantic Revolution

Featuring

Michael Dussek
Jan Ladislav Dussek
Frédéric Chopin

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Historical Context

Jan Ladislav Dussek was the first international, touring piano virtuoso and innovated by sitting side-on to the audience to show off his profile, originating the modern piano recital.

Critical Reception

A Bohemian critic, Johann Tomaschek, described Dussek's playing as having 'something magical' and his fingers like 'a company of ten singers'.

Composer Biography

Jan Ladislav Dussek, a Bohemian composer, was known as 'Dussek le beau' and taught Marie-Antoinette in Paris before escaping in 1789.

Compositional Technique

Jan Ladislav Dussek was the first composer to include specific pedal instructions in his music, contrasting with contemporaries who viewed the pedal as a 'cloak to an impure' playing method.

Compositional Technique

Dussek anticipated Chopin in his ideas about shifting fingers on the same key without striking it, to achieve a pure legato, or 'to hold the vibration and to tie or bind one passage to another'.

Performer Biography

Michael Dussek, the pianist on this album, is the Head of Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music and a Professor of the University of London.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Dussek's music, particularly his middle period sonatas, shows a rich pianistic sonority, virtuosic figuration, and harmonic daring that was ahead of his time in developing a Romantic piano style.