Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum 2025

Hong Kong born pianist Chiyan Wong gets this selection from Husum 2025 off to a great start with Naji Hakim’s Variations on “Auprès de ma blonde” (2013). This is based on an old French song dating from the 18th century. The premise of this ballad refers to a woman complaining to the birds about her imprisoned husband. After what seems an unpromising start, the piece develops into twelve minutes of pure virtuosity. Hakim is a Franco-Lebanese composer who is currently visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His compositions include works for organ, orchestra, and voice.

Wong then presents two attractive vignettes by Gustave Samazeuilh: the Prelude and the Française taken from the Suite in G published around 1911. Its six ‘antique’ movements are no Baroque pastiche but a modern re‑imagining of the form, akin to Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin or Warlock’s Capriol.

Frank Bridge’s Valse capricieuse from Three Sketches (1906) is one of his loveliest numbers, though the first and second, April and Rosemary, are better known. The Valse is melancholy, more at home in an Edwardian drawing room, yet full of musical and technical interest. Aline Piboule brings her magic to it, illuminating its gentle sadness and subtle technical sparkle. Of exceptional interest is Guy Ropartz’s substantial Nocturne No.1 (1911) with its balance between a severe opening and a lyrical middle section crowned by an “imposing” lead up to the quiet coda. Ropartz provides a fusion of Post-Romanticism and Impressionism in these pages. Certainly, anyone expecting Chopin or Field-like figurations will be disappointed.

The French composer Cécile Chaminade is often written off as simply a writer of ‘salon music,’ but her best work shows a technical assurance and emotional range that far exceed that lazy label. She is well represented on this disc. Roland Pöntinen plays the “elaborated” version of Les Sylvains, op.60 (1892) whose lovely melody and rich accompaniment are offset by contrasting material full of broken chords, arpeggios, and glissandi. The title refers to “fauns,” lending it an elusive, delicate mood. Mark Viner offers Chaminade’s L’Ondine, op.101 (1900), and Pêcheurs de nuit from the Poème provençal, op.127 (1908). The former is hardly a companion to Ravel’s eponymous creation, yet the liner notes suggest that the “delicate passages which frame the piece” portray the water‑nymph Ondine, while the “louder sections concern the sea‑god Poseidon.” Pêcheurs de nuit opens with an uneasily calm atmosphere before moving into a stormy middle section.

Franz Liszt’s Hymne à Sainte Cécile de Charles Gounod, S.491(1865) transcribes an instrumental piece originally scored for solo violin, harp, organ, and orchestra. It is unlikely Liszt’s transcription was ever heard with any frequency until Leslie Howard’s monumental complete recordings of the piano music. I am not a fan of Gounod, but in this work, Liszt deployed all the tricks of his trade to create a vast structure, given a most convincing account by Mark Viner.

Daniel Grimwood plays Adolf Henselt’s lovely transcription of a long-forgotten Romance (No. 1) by a certain Comte Wielhorsky. It is a well-balanced realization that fuses the original accompaniment and the vocal line into a delightful whole. His other contributions to this disc are two of Carl Baermann Jr.’s Études, op. 4 (1877), specifically No. 2 in A minor and No. 12 in C‑sharp minor. This final Étude is especially ambitious with propelling figurations that are both dramatic and charged with suppressed urgency.

American composer Amy Beach’s A Hermit Thrush at Eve, op. 92 no. 1 (pub. 1922), is played by Saskia Giorgini, and distils accurately notated birdsong into glowing, impressionistic piano writing, creating a contemplative miniature of striking poetic delicacy.

Two short pieces by the Polish pianist-composer Ignaz Paderewski are given by Illia Ovcharenko. Chant d’amour, the second movement from his Album de Mai, op. 10 (pub.1884), contrasts a folksong-like opening with an animated middle section. In Cracovienne fantastique from Humoresques de concert, op. 14 Cahier II, (1887-88), Paderewski uses triplets, octaves, chromatic runs, and neat figurations to create a spirited reimagining of the regional folk style.

The final number in this recital is also my favourite. Ronald Stevenson made countless arrangements and transcriptions of a wide range of “found” music, including popular songs. Ivor Novello wrote his well‑loved “We’ll Gather Lilacs in the Spring” for the stage show Perchance to Dream. Here, Stevenson gives this cherished tune the full cocktail‑piano treatment. Kenneth Hamilton dispatches it with panache.

Peter Grove’s liner notes, in both German and English, are helpful, offering valuable background on these rarely encountered composers and their music. One minor erratum: the liner notes state Frank Bridge was born in 1897 rather than 1879. And surely the recording dates are wrong. The rear cover states 16-21August, 2025, but the actual concert prospectus shows that it was 16-23 August that year!

This latest volume from Husum once again demonstrates why the festival remains indispensable for anyone drawn to the byways of the piano repertoire. The performances are consistently distinguished, the programming imaginative, and the recorded sound remarkably vivid for live conditions. Together they offer a compelling reminder that the piano’s literature extends far beyond the familiar canon, rewarding curiosity with discovery at every turn.

Track Listing:
Naji Hakim (b.1955)
Variations on “Auprès de ma blonde” (2013)
Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967)
From Suite in G (pub. C.1911): Prelude; Française
Chiyan Wong (piano)

Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
From Three Sketches: Valse capricieuse (1906)
Guy Ropartz (1864-1955)
Nocturne No.1 (1911)
Aline Piboule (piano)

Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Les Sylvains, op.60 (1892)
Roland Pöntinen (piano)

Cécile Chaminade
L’Ondine, op.101 (1900)
From Poème provençal, op.127 (1908): Pêcheurs de nuit

Franz Liszt (1811-86)
Hymne à Sainte Cécile de Charles Gounod, S.491 (1865)
Mark Viner (piano)

Adolf Henselt (1814-89)
Romance du Comte Wielhorsky No.1 (?)
Carl Baermann jr. (1839-1913)
From Etudes, op.4 (1877): No.2 in A minor; No.12 in C-sharp minor
Daniel Grimwood (piano)

Amy Beach (1867-1944)
A Hermit Thrush at Eve, op.92, no.1 (pub.1922)
Saskia Giorgini (piano)

Ignaz Paderewski (1860-1941)
From Album de Mai, op.10 (pub.1884): No.2 Chant d’amour
From Humoresques de concert, op.14, Cahier II, (1887-88) No.6 Cracovienne fantastique
Illia Ovcharenko (piano)

Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015)
“We’ll Gather Lilacs” Ivor Novello (1893-1951) (1980)
Kenneth Hamilton (piano)
rec. 16-23 August 2025, Schloss Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Danacord DACOCD 1019
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.