Marc-André Hamelin: New Works for Piano (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Hamelin: Variations on a Theme of Paganini; My Feelings about Chocolate;  Suite a l'ancienne (Suite in Old Form); Barcarolle; Variation diabellique sur des themes de Beethoven; Pavane variee; Chaconne; Meditation on Laura; Toccata on “L'homme armé”. Marc-André Hamelin, piano. Hyperion CDA68308

 

Canadian pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin (b. 1961) is widely known both for his technical prowess and his willingness to perform and record music outside the classical keyboard mainstream. We have previously reviewed a couple of excellent releases that featured him as a performer. The first was of works from quite a ways out of the classical mainstream, the piano rags of the American composer William Bolcom (b.1938), a review that can be found here. The second CD featured Hamelin playing some piano music of a composer who, although his name is more familiar to most classical music fans, his piano music is still pretty much out of the classical piano music mainstream: the French composer Gabriel Fauré (1825-1924). Our review of Hamelin’s gorgeous Fauré disc can be found here.

 

On this new release Hamelin steps way outside the classical keyboard mainstream: the “new works for piano” of the album’s title are new works by none other than pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin. In his CD booklet essay, British composer, pianist, and academic Francis Potts (b. 1957) writes, “Marc-André Hamelin sees himself as a pianist who composes, yet he carries forward a noble tradition of excelling in both domains. Questioned regularly by interviewers on his legendary pianistic powers, he has emphasized not hours of practice but the importance of having what he calls ‘a good mind for music,’ attributing a significant part of his superhuman agility to a highly developed intellectual and instinctive grasp of harmonic structures and their attendant shapes… In enjoying the allusive maze of historical echoes into which Hamelin’s own piano music leads us, we should remember that it rests upon dispassionate analytical insight; such adventures coalesce with the most exactingly serious exercise of musical intellect. They also feed off encyclopedic knowledge of the piano’s vast literature.”

Those familiar with Hamelin’s playing from his previous recordings will already be aware of his impeccable technique. However, his playing on this album should be sufficient to expand the admiration of even his most ardent fans, for it is amazing indeed. Just listen to his opening composition, his Variations on a Theme of Paganini, a dazzling romp through Paganini’s theme by way of Hamelin’s musical insight and imagination, including a jolly jolt of Beethoven along the way. And so the program continues, varying in musical style, from the reflective rumination on chocolate, the poetic four-movement Barcarolle, the technically dazzling and dynamically contrasting Variation diabellique sur des themes de Beethoven, the pensive Meditation on Laura, and as they say on TV, much, much more…

 

Potts’s notes on the music are brief but informative and the engineering is up to Hyperion’s usual high standard. Listening to Hamelin play his own compositions offers a glimpse of what it must have been like to hear composers such as Brahms, Liszt, or Rachmaninoff to play their own works for piano. This is a truly compelling release, one which those who enjoy virtuoso piano performance should eagerly seek to audition.