Saint-Saëns - Goss - Franck: Piano Works by Emmanuel Despax / Orpheus Sinfonia

Emmanuel Despax / Orpheus Sinfonia

Saint-Saëns - Goss - Franck: Piano Works

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212034927
Catnr: SIG 349
Release date: 30 January 2014
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Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212034927

Catalogue number
SIG 349

Release date
30 January 2014

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Emmanuel Despax is a rising star on the UK and international piano scene, who has performed at the Wigmore and Cadogan Halls in London and with orchestras including the CBSO. His debut concerto recording, with the Orpheus Sinfonia under Thomas Carroll, features the premiere recording of Stephen Goss’ Piano Concerto, inspired by the designs of Thomas Heatherwick (the work’s premiere performance was the first classical concert in which audiences were invited to bring their iPads and tablets, to watch an interactive display designed to accompany the music). The work is accompanied by two similarly expressive works, Saint-Saëns’ ever-popular Piano Concerto No.2 and Franck’s Variations symphoniques.

Het eerste concertalbum van rijzende ster Despax
Emmanuel Despax is een rijzende ster in de internationale pianoscene, die onder andere in de Wigmore en Cadogan Hall in Londen en de Salle Gaveau en het Louvre Auditorium in Parijs heeft gespeeld, met orkesten als het City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Volgens de Gramophone is hij een “formidable talent, fleet of finger, elegant of phrase and a true keyboard colourist.”

Dit debuutalbum, waarop Despax zich bij het Orpheus Sinfonia onder leiding van Thomas Carroll voegt, bevat de eerste opname van het Pianoconcert van Stephen Goss, geïnspireerd door de ontwerpen van Thomas Heatherwick. De eerste uitvoering van het werk was het eerste klassieke concert waarvoor het publiek werd gevraagd hun ipads en tablets mee te nemen voor het bekijken van een interactieve vertoning die werd gemaakt om de muziek te begeleiden. Het concert wordt vergezeld door twee even expressieve en karakteristieke werken, Saint-Saëns’ immer populaire Tweede Pianoconcert en Francks Variations symphoniques.

Artist(s)

Emmanuel Despax

“Emmanuel Despax is a formidable talent, fleet of finger, elegant of phrase and a true keyboard colourist.” Gramophone Emmanuel Despax has gained worldwide recognition as a singular artist, whose interpretations bring a rare sincerity and imagination to the music. A remarkable performer of romantic and post- romantic music, he has been invited to give recital performances in the UK (Wigmore Hall’s London Pianoforte Series, Cadogan Hall, Chipping Campden and Petworth Festivals, and the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, where he was appointed artistic director in 2020 of a complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle); in France (Louvre Auditorium, Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau, International Festival Les Nuits Pianistiques in Aix- en-Provence, L’été Musical au Poujoula, and Les Nuits du Château de la Moutte in Saint-Tropez); Benelux (Amsterdam, The Hague and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels); Cyprus (Pharos Arts Foundation); Italy (Fazioli auditorium); and in South America.
Past engagements include two tours of New Zealand, hailed by critics for his recitals in the prestigious Fazioli International Piano Series in Auckland and concerto performances with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. In the UK, Emmanuel Despax has also played with the City of Birmingham Symphony and BBC Symphony Orchestras, among others. He is also regularly broadcast on Medici TV, France Musique, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM UK.
Despax’s critically acclaimed discography includes: The Romantic Piano Concerto, released in 2018 and recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Hyperion) with works by Hans Bronsart and Anton Urspruch, two students of Liszt, demonstrated “a wide range of colours combined with an easy virtuosity” (Gramophone). The previous year, Despax’s recording of Chopin’s Preludes Op. 28 made an impression for “its poetic rendering of every detail, transmuting the Fazioli into a 1900s Pleyel, iridescent as needs be” (Diapason – 2017), and was chosen as Classic FM’s Album of the Week. His first CD for Signum Classics in 2013 was devoted to piano concertos by Saint-Saëns (Concerto No. 2) and Stephen Goss, written for Emmanuel Despax, as well as Franck’s Variations Symphoniques.
Recent releases for Signum Classics highlight the eclecticism of the French pianist’s repertoire: The Sound of Music Fantasy (Despax’s own transcription based on themes from the famous musical), Spira, Spera (Bach - after the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris) and a Brahms album, Sixteen Waltzes Op. 39 and Piano Concerto No. 1 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton.
Born in Paris and now based in London, Emmanuel Despax started playing the piano in Aix-en- Provence before joining the Yehudi Menuhin School, then the Royal College of Music in London, studying with Ruth Nye, pupil of Claudio Arrau.
He won numerous awards during his studies (Chappell Medal, Tagore Gold Medal), and benefited from the advice of Nikolai Demidenko, Leon Fleisher, John Lill, Yehudi Menuhin, Dominique Merlet, Mstislav Rostropovich, Murray Perahia and András Schiff.

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Orpheus Sinfonia

Thomas Carroll (conductor)

Composer(s)

César Franck

César Franck was simultaneously a child prodigy and a late bloomer. His parents quickly discovered his enormous talent, but they were mostly interested in the money and fame that he might generate. Because of this, he was presented as a piano virtuoso, without a focus on composition. Unfortunately, his virtuoso career was less promising then they had hoped, and he started earning his money more as a teacher and organist. Composing stayed in the background, but in the mean time he did get some notable students, such as Henri Duparc. After a while, a sort of "Franck school" of students arose, albeit against his will, who affectionately called him ‘Pater seraphicus’. It was not until he was 50 before he started to receive some acclaim as a composer, and from his 52nd he started a very prolific period, lasting until his death at the age of 68.
Nowadays, Franck is mostly known for his instrumental music, peaking at the famous Violin Sonata in A. Besides this work,, his small collection of organ works was particularly influential.

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Stepen Goss

Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. He was a musical prodigy, writing his first pieces of music at the age of four and making his concert debut at the age of ten. During this concert he astonished the audience by playing one of the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven at its request. After his studying at the Conservatory of Paris he followed a career as a church organist at Saint-Merri and later La Madeleine in Paris. He was also a successful freelance composer and pianist in France and abroad.
Saint-Saëns initially helped to introduce German composers such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner in France. However, from 1870 onwards anti-German sentiments began to arise in France as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, which enhanced support for the idea of a pro-French musical society. In 1871 Saint-Saëns consequently founded the Société Nationale de Musique together with Romain Bussine, that was devoted to the promotion of French music and organised concerts on which young composers could perform their works.
Saint-Saëns was a keen traveler, and made 179 trips to 27 different countries during his life. He favoured Algeria and Egypt, were he gained inspiration for compositions such as the Suite Algérienne and the Fifth Piano Concerto, also known as The Egyptian.
Saint-Saëns' best-known works include the First Cello Concerto, Third Symphony, the opera Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Le carnaval des animaux, a humorous suite in which various animals are musically portrayed. However, he never wanted the last work to be performed, since it was contrary to his image as a serious composer.

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