RECORDING OF THE MONTH     CHOPIN Waltzes and Impromptus Vladimir Feltsman £11 post free World-wide VIVALDI The four seasons London Mozart Players/Juritz £12 post free World-wide BEETHOVEN Symphonies 4 and 5 LSO/Yondani Butt £12 post free World-wide

AVAILABILITY £10.95 www.dunelm-records.co.uk

Franz LISZT (1811-1886) Nuages Gris (Grey clouds) 1881 [3:45]; La lugubre gondola I (The funeral gondola I) 1882 [4:07]; Unstern (Evil star) 1880-1886 [5:35]; Vallée d’Obermann (1848-1854) [15:24]; Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Sonata No.30 in E major, Op.109 [20:51]; Panayiotis DEMOPOULOS (b.1977) Tetractys for solo piano 2000 [8:18] Panayiotis Demopoulos, piano. rec. Whiteley Hall, Chetham’s School of Music, Long Millgate, Manchester, 18 April, 28 May 2003. DUNELM RECORDS DRD0213 [58:00]

Panayiotis Demopoulos, born in Greece, has studied in Britain in recent years and as can be heard from this well recorded disc has made considerable progress as pianist and composer. The centre-piece of this varied recital is Beethoven’s superb late E Major Sonata, Op.109 (my own personal favourite among Beethoven’s 32), thoughtfully played; but it is the Liszt which is of particular interest. Vallée d’Obermann is early Liszt (published in Paris in 1840 but revised in the early 1850s), one of the Swiss group of the Années de Pélerinage travelogues and makes enjoyable listening. It calls for strong and secure technique but is more than a display piece and has considerable emotional depth. Even more stimulating are the three short movements from the early 1880s which are almost incredibly forward-looking. Nuages Gris (Grey Clouds) is appropriately misty, not merely Impressionist but in effect atonal; Unstern (Evil Star) is fiercer, sinister even, but again of ambiguous tonality while the tragic La Lugubre Gondola, played here in what I take to be the second of its two versions, anticipates Debussy by maybe two decades. Perhaps all three, but certainly Nuages Gris are best programmed with at least moderately avant-garde 20th century music (as I recall happening years ago in one of the Doncaster Museum lunch-hour concerts I organise). Nuages indeed is the starting point to Demopoulos’s own Tetractys, a set of variations on a tone row derived from the Liszt piece. This tone row theme, entitled Nuages Noir, emerges at the end of the four well contrasted variations, the whole taking around eight minutes in all. The treatment is serial and though there are traces of lyricism in the third, slow, variation, the piece makes few concessions to the average listener. Nevertheless I will watch Mr. Demopoulos’s future development, as a composer and performer, with interest. Philip L. Scowcroft see also review by Patrick Gary Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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