Belle Époque
Joseph Moog (piano)
rec. 2024, Alter Sendesaal, Bremen, Germany
Naïve Records V8675 [69]

In deference to the idea that a review should not just consist of one line I will not merely say “Buy this CD” though frankly that is what I would suggest to anyone with any interest whatsoever in the piano and its repertoire. Joseph Moog nurtured a curiosity for the world beyond the known from his musical childhood and his recordings and performances place the likes of Scharwenka, Moszkowski and Rubinstein alongside Grieg, Rachmaninov and Tchaikowsky, taking in many fascinating piano rarities and golden age transcriptions along the way. This album is a celebration of his exploratory nature and though staples like Ravel’s Jeux d’eau, Liszt’s étude la leggiarezza and Rachmaninov’s Kresisler transcriptions are included they are surrounded by a feast of rarities. Even after a lifetime of actively seeking out the unvisited byways of the piano literature I have made new friends in this gorgeous collection.

Moog imagines belle époque as a nostalgia for time past, for a culture that no longer exists. He opens with two of Kreisler’s Old Viennese Dances, surely the epitome of nostalgia for a city and everything it represented now fading into memory. Rachmaninov’s transcriptions are stunning realisations that contain as much of the transcriber as they do of the original composer, just as many of the most memorable transcriptions do. Godowsky’s transcription of Albéniz’s already tricky Triana, overshadowed by his arrangement of the Tango but now being heard more often, is another. I love Denis Zhdanov’s wry story about his getting disqualified from a Spanish Piano competition because he played this arrangement rather than pure Albéniz but I think Albéniz’s sense of fun would have appreciated this dazzling concoction, delivered with infectious brilliance by Moog. Even frothier ebullience can be heard in Moriz Rosenthal’s delicious Papillons, played here with the same insouciant charm that Rosenthal himself brings and the tremendous virtuosity that requires is put to good use in Leschetizky’s finger-twisting jeu des ondes, play of the waves, Scharwenka’s little tarantella and, to my surprise, Respighi’s treacherous little étude in double notes and cross hand leaps that is up there with the Moszkowski’s of this world.

The Slavic countries are represented by Liszt, the sinuous la leggiarezza and two of Bortkiewicz’s wonderfully elegiac Lamentations and Consolations, those paired works that ooze nostalgia and hark back to the Russia of Tchaikowsky’s day. As a Russian in exile for pretty much all of his adult life Bortkiewicz knew the pain of separation as keenly as any of the composers here. The same melancholy inhabits other works here; Sibelius’s the Spruce, from his five tree pieces, a bittersweet slow waltz or Poulenc’s mélancolie, with its textured web of smoky languor. The clearest affinity in D’Indy’s nocturne is the nocturnes of Fauré; it would be interesting to hear it alongside them in a recital. From just a couple of decades earlier comes Alkan’s little chant in E major. Like Mendelssohn Alkan wrote short collections of songs without words which he titled recueil de chants, songbooks, four volumes of six pieces and one of seven, all ending in a barcarolle, like Mendelssohn though admittedly he only included one for the first two books. They deserve to be much better known and its good to have one included here. There is a barcarolle feel to the opening of Chaminade’s capriccio appassionato, a piece that only seems to have been recorded once before. Moog’s lightness of touch and supple playing is perfect here and makes me want to hear more of his Chaminade. I wasn’t sure if Ravel’s jeux d’eau would work in this collection but thanks to the high quality of the music that Moog has selected for the rest of this programme it fits right in and Moog’s performance is as good as any I have heard.

A brief trip over to our side of the channel brings us York Bowen’s seldom heard suite mignonne, with its prélude whose right hand semiquavers shimmer and flow with unceasing ease under Moog’s fingers, a languid waltz full of sophisticated harmony and a vivacious moto perpetuo, once recorded by Stephen Hough; it is nice to hear it in its proper setting. Back to France, the spiritual home of la belle époque for one of Mel Bonis’ seven legendary females Mélisande, her iconic hair depicted in the stream of flowing arpeggios that accompany its delicate melody. With hints of Ravel’s jeux d’eau and echoes of Fauré it is good to hear this music gaining a foothold on disc and even in the concert hall. A final morsel and, at least for me, the rarest item here is Pierre Petit’s delightful bagatelle from his cinq pièces pour piano titled Bois de Boulogne. It waswritten in 1946, the year he won the premier grand prix de Rome. Petit numbered Henri Busser and Nadia Boulanger amongst his teachers at the Paris Conservatoire and he went on to be head of light music for French television until 1965 when he became music director. The bagatelle opens and closes in a tempo de minuet, a quirky tongue in cheek dance full of time changes and odd harmonic turns that at one point becomes a silky and warm hearted tempo de blues.

I cannot fault this disc in any way; playing, programming, presentation and recorded sound are all first class and this is likely to be my disc of the year.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) arr. Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Liebesfreud (c.1910 arr. c.1923)
Liebesleid (c.1910 arr. c.1923)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
La Leggiarezza from 3 études de concert S.144 No.2 (1845-49)
Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952)
Lamentations and consolations Op.17 Nos. 6 and 5 (publ.1914)
Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946)
Papillons (publ.1897)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Granen, the Spruce from 5 piece Op.75 No.5 (1914)
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) arr. Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)
Triana from Iberia T.105 No.4 Book 2 (1906)
Mélanie (Mel) Bonis (1858-1937)
Mélisande Op.109 (1922)
Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924)
Tarantella in F minor
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Jeux d’eau M.30 (1901)
Edwin York Bowen (1884-1961)
Suite mignonne Suite No.4 Op.39 (c.1915)
Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)
Troisième recuil de chants Op.65 No.1 in E major (1864)
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Capriccio appassionato Op.52 (1890)
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Mélancolie FP.105 (1940)
Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915)
Jeu des ondes No.1 from à la campagne Op.40 (publ.1891)
Pierre Petit (1922-2000)
Bagatelle from Bois de Boulogne No.3 (1946)
Ottorini Respighi (1879-1936)
Study from sei pezzi P.44 No.5 (1903-05)
Vincent d’Indy (1851-1931)
Nocturne Op.26 (1886)

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