Hommage à Pleyel
Finghin Collins (piano)
rec. 2025, Théâtre Populaire Romand, Salle de Musique, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Claves CD50-3107 [73]
The idea for this recital was born when Collins played a recital featuring a modern Steinway D as well as a 1937 Pleyel 280 concert grand piano, restored and rebuilt by Matthias Maurer of Piano Workshop in Switzerland. Loving the piano he decided to continue his association with the instrument and make this recording. It all began with Ignaz Pleyel, an Austrian born composer and pianist who studied with Haydn before moving to Strasbourg in his mid twenties. He narrowly escaped execution in the French revolution, partly it appears by composing several works that supported the new regime. After taking French citizenship he moved to Paris where he founded a music publishing house and, in 1807, the piano manufacturing business that bears his name to this day. Though the company was taken over in 2013 by Algam, they still make pianos under the Pleyel name. The first two composers here, Haydn and Pleyel are connected as teacher and pupil though their musical paths would cross again later in life. Chopin and Debussy are perhaps two of the composers most closely associated with Pleyel, their piano of choice whilst the unfamiliar names here, Joseph O’Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer were both part of the management of the firm, friends and partners according to Collin’s informative notes.
Haydn’s E minor sonata is a long favourite of Collins’ and was written towards the end of the time that Pleyel studied with Haydn. The piano that Collins plays may be from a century and a half later but it suits this music well with a velvety richness in the runs and not too much bright treble in sparkling passage work of this vivacious work. The warmth of its sound comes into its own in the second movement adagio.Two works by Pleyel himself follow; the rondo in E flat written just after he settled in Paris and the undated Sonata in B flat major. The perky rondo shows the influence of Haydn in its sunny disposition as well as showing evidence of the keyboard writing that would make Paris such a piano capital in the early years of the nineteenth century. Composers like Hummel and his ilk would write works in this style to great effect. The sonata definitely announces itself and its home key with its almost fanfare like opening chords. I love the simplicity of the andante ma non troppo second movement and the scurrying writing in the brief finale. Again the influence of Haydn and even Mozart can be heard in the fluent figuration and it is good to hear from one of their contemporaries who has fallen between the tracks.
Chopin’s first published nocturnes, the familiar op.9 set, were dedicated to the wife of Camille Pleyel, son of Ignaz who took over the firm in 1815. Camille was introduced to Chopin by Friedrich Kalkbrenner with whom Chopin had considered studying; it may have been the best thing to come out of Chopin’s association with Kalkbrenner. Pleyel of course can only have benefited by its connection to Chopin and it was at Pleyel’s own Salle Pleyel that Chopin gave his first Paris concert on 26th February 1832, going on to give an annual concert there. Listening to these works played on this warm-hearted instrument is a treat and brings a smile to my face as the closing bars of the third, probably my favourite of the three, fade away. The (very) posthumous waltz in A minor has garnered interest since it was announced to the world in 2024 – it had been discovered amongst papers in New York’s Pierpont Morgan library in 2019. There are certainly Chopin like features such as the similarity to the second ballade in bars 7 and 8 but in a 24 bar manuscript it is hard to say for sure that this is genuine Chopin. Collins is evidently in the pro Chopin camp and there is certainly enough lyricism and drama in its short span – a shade over a minute including repeat – to make it worth hearing.
Even rarer fare comes in the shape of two salon works each by Joseph O’Kelly and Georges Pfeiffer. O’Kelly’s family moved from Dublin to Paris when he was seven years old and his musical education was taken up by Kalkbrenner and Fromental Halévy amongst others. His interests seem to lie in the field of vocal music with a large amount of songs and nine operas to his name. Au bord de la mer is a song without words in the style of Chopin or Mendelssohn with an increasingly decorative and virtuoso accompaniment to its simple melody. His mazurka op.48 is a far cry from Chopin’s mazurkas though it is a very enjoyable concert piece that possibly influenced Godard in his concert mazurkas. The mazurka de salon by Georges Pfeiffer, his fourth venture into the genre has even more brilliant passages but is in much the same vein. I rather like the tender baritone melody in the middle section that soon plays against some gossamer filigree in the right hand. Pfeiffer was born in the year that o’Kelly moved to Paris and studied with his mother, a Kalkbrenner pupil, and the German composer/pianist Berthold Damcke (1812-1875). He invested more time in the piano with many salon works and three piano concertos to his name – would these be contenders for a romantic piano concerto issue? His attractive nocturne was possibly inspired by Chopin though it is none the worse for that and makes good use of the triplet motif that he introduces at the opening.
Debussy may be a more familiar name though I confess I have not heard his Hommage à Haydn before. It was written as one of five pieces to commemorate the centenary of Haydn’s death in 1909 and is based on the notes B-A-D-D-G that apparently represent the name of Haydn. The B-A-C-H motif, B flat, A, C and B natural, is an excellent basis for development as many composers have demonstrated but I think it was a bit of a stretch to try it for Haydn. Debussy was imspired by the challenge however and it is good to hear this evocative slow waltz. It may not have the immediate charm of la plus que lent but its humour, invention and keyboard timbre stand comparison to the best of the composer. Along with the gorgeous pedalling and spirited playing here is the superb performance of L’Isle joyeuse which brings this recital to a close. With the warmth of the sound consistent from a pianissimo to the final grand climaxes of L’Isle joyeuse it is clear to see what Debussy, Chopin and a host of other pianists, not least Collins himself, found, and find so alluring about this manufacturer.
Rob Challinor
Contents
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Piano Sonata in E Minor Hob.XVI:34
Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831)
Rondo in E Flat Major B.613
Piano Sonata in B Flat Major Op.91
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Three Nocturnes Op.9
Waltz in A Minor
Joseph O’Kelly (1828-1885)
Au bord de la mer
Mazurka No.1 Op.48
Georges Pfeiffer (1835-1908)
Mazurka de Salon No.4
Nocturne Op.36
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Hommage à Haydn
L’Isle joyeuse
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