Piano International (Mar, 2013)
I reviewed Volumes 1 and 2 of Geoffrey Burleson’s Saint-Saens project for IP in July/August 2012. His latest instalment, subtitled ‘Character Pieces’, puts us further in his debt by resurrecting music guaranteed 99 per cent unfamiliar to most of us. (The exception is the solo transcription of Rhapsodie d’Auvergne, originally for piano and orchestra.) The accomplished Bagatelles (1855) – written when the composer was only 20 – were originally divided into two suites, the last piece (linked thematically to the first) being perfect pas-de-deux material for an enterprising choreographer.
The pianist’s own booklet notes shrewdly name Schumann as a prevailing influence, a composer suffi ciently modern in Saint- Saens’ day as …
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