Zdeněk Fibich - Moods, Impressions & Souvenirs (William Howard)

Information

Composer: Zdeněk Fibich

• Moods, Op. 41 Part I
• Impressions, Op. 41 Part II
• Impressions, Op. 41 Part III
• Souvenirs, Op. 41 Part IV

William Howard, piano

Date: 1995

Label: Chandos

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Review

Not all art is immortal. Nor should it be. Although all art is the inspired creation of a moment, not all moments are eternal. Some moments are transitory and some art embodies those evanescent moments, and when those moments are gone, the art is evaporates.

The Moods, Impressions & Reminiscences of Zdenek Fibich have gone and his art has evaporated. While some listeners might argue that Fibich's symphonic works are his more ambitious and more substantial works, others would insist that they are merely longer and louder works. But few listeners would argue that Fibich's piano miniatures, the musical diaries of his erotic life, are monuments meant for the ages. As William Howard demonstrates in this fine 1995 Chandos recording, Fibich's Moods, Impressions & Reminiscences enshrine experiences that are ecstatic, despairing, sensual, sentimental, and sometimes very, very sexy, but they are rather intimate. Chopin's piano miniatures have all the same qualities of Fibich's, but Chopin's music transcends the transitory for the eternal because it incarnates rather than embodies its evanescent moments. Fibich's music is music of an erotic moment, music meant for instant gratification and not to last longer than the moment that inspired it. By the mid-'90s, Chandos' sound had mellowed, losing its hard edge and gaining weight and depth.

— James Leonard

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Zdeněk Fibich (21 December 1850 – 15 October 1900) was a Czech composer. He studied under such prominent musicians as Ignaz Moscheles and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig and Mannheim, then settled in Prague from 1874. Influenced early by Weber, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and later by Wagner, Fibich composed many songs and operas in German, gaining acclaim from German critics but less so from Czechs. His later operas were mostly in Czech, but often based on non-Czech literary works. He integrated Bohemian folk elements into his chamber music and was a pioneer in composing Czech nationalist tone poems.

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William Howard is a leading British pianist whose career has spanned over 40 countries. He founded the Schubert Ensemble in 1983 and performed with it for 35 years. As a soloist, he has appeared at major UK festivals and venues such as Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre, and he has regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He has also taught chamber music at Birmingham Conservatoire and Dartington Summer School. With over 40 CD recordings, including an award-winning Fibich album, Howard is known for his passion for 19th-century repertoire and Czech piano music, particularly the works of Janáček.

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