Track Listing:

Bach

1. Prelude to the Ratswahl Cantata

2. Siciliano from Flute Sonata in E Flat

3. Chorale: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

Satie

4-6 Sonatine Bureaucratique

7 Gymnopedie No.1

Liszt

8. Mephisto Waltz No. 1

9. Sonata in B minor

The music of the boisterous Ratswahl Prelude first appeared as the opening movement of the Sonata No.1 for Solo Violin, before Bach arranged it for orchestra and used it in the Cantata No.29. It has since proved a popular piece with arrangers. Notable transcriptions by Saint-Saens and Rachmaninoff were published before Kempff added his own in 1930.

 

For the Siciliano, originally for flute and harpsichord, Bach composed one of his most hauntingly beautiful melodies. The rich textures of the modern piano give great romantic depth to the expressive harmonies.

 

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, was elegantly transcribed by the English war-time pianist, Myra Hess in 1925; a version which greatly increased the piece’s popularity. This, slightly later arrangement seeks to convey the warmth and intensity of the original orchestral and choral textures.

 

Erik Satie was one of music’s great eccentrics, who had a very personal and quirky sense of humour. This is particularly evident in the Sonatine Bureaucratique. Written in 1917, it is actually a spoof arrangement of the much earlier Sonatina in C, Op 36 No.1 by Muzio Clementi, with several humorous references.

 

By contrast, the Gymnopedie No1, with it’s poignant melody floating above the gentle left-hand chords, is more serious and has become arguably Satie’s most famous composition.

 

The first of Liszt’s four Mephisto Waltzes is an exiting and demonic dance in which the composer surrounds an almost painfully yearning melody with music of the most transcendental virtuosity.

 

The Sonata in B minor is often sited as the greatest sonata after Beethoven. The whole piece, which is a single movement lasting 30 minutes, runs the gamut of emotions, but is based almost entirely on themes stated on the opening page. Whilst being a great intellectual challenge to the pianist, the piece also makes substantial demands on the performer’s technique. The final bars have an unearthly quality, giving the listener the sense that he or she has reached the ethereal end of an extraordinary journey.