Tansman, A.: Piano Works - Recueil De Mazurkas / Sonata Rustica / Sonatine No. 3 / 3 Preludes En Forme De Blues / 4 Nocturnes
6/30/2009, 32 Tracks, 1:13:39
Featuring
Margaret Fingerhut
Alexandre Tansman
Did you know?
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Composer Biography
Tansman won three top prizes at the first Composers Competition in independent Poland in 1919, organized by pianist-composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
Historical Context
In Paris, Tansman was part of 'L'École de Paris', an international group of immigrant composers including Bohuslav Martinů (Czech), Tibor Harsányi (Hungarian), and Alexander Tcherepnin (Russian).
Composer Biography
Alexandre Tansman, born in the Kingdom of Poland, started piano lessons in early childhood and began composing at the age of eight, writing miniatures modelled after Chopin and Grieg.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Tansman's musical style was 'polyglot', based on Polish folklore, with allusions to music from Bach to Stravinsky, and incorporating influences from Balinese gamelan and American blues.
Compositional Technique
Tansman's piano music features rich sonorities, ornate arabesques, and thick, resonant chords often made of stacked-up thirds, sometimes compared to 'skyscrapers' with up to thirteen simultaneous thirds.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Tansman adopted a philosophy of 'folklore imaginé' for his Polish-inspired works, stylizing general melodic and rhythmic contours rather than directly imitating authentic folk music.
Compositional Technique
Tansman preferred well-crafted classical forms, writing sonatas and sonatinas that typically followed a tripartite outline: dynamic sonata allegro, slow song forms or variations, and a toccata-style perpetuum mobile or rondo.
