Alexandre Tansman - Ballades; Arabesques; Suite dans le style ancien (Eliane Reyes)

Information

Composer: Alexandre Tansman

• Suite dans le style ancien
• Ballades Nos. 1–3
• Arabesques
• 5 Impressions
• 8 Cantilenes, "Homage to J.S. Bach"

Eliane Reyes, piano

Date: 2014

Label: Naxos

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Review

Now that Alexandre Tansman’s orchestral works have received substantial attention on CD, it’s good to see his inventive and idiomatic piano music get its due, thanks in part to Belgian pianist Eliane Reyes’ passionate advocacy. She follows up her outstanding 2010 Naxos world-premiere recordings of the 24 Intermezzi and Petit Suite with four groups of small pieces and the three large-scale Ballades from 1941.

The Suite dans le style ancien updates baroque dance forms in spiffy neo-classical dress characterized by accessible tunes and tart harmonies that take root in Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Poulenc yet sound refreshingly original. Among the six 1930 Arabesques, a Mazurka in homage to Chopin begins with some deliberately “wrong note” melodic trickery, and eventually gives way to more than a few chords lifted (consciously or not) from the Gershwin songbook. The Fanfare’s orchestrally evocative rumbles put both pianist and the instrument’s bass register in peril, while the concluding Danza is a cross-rhythmic finger-twisting tour-de-force.

The lyrical purity and introspection of Bach’s chorale preludes provides the basis for the Eight Cantilenas, although the fifth movement titled “Invention” owes more to Debussy than to any Bach teaching piece. Each of the Ballades deserves a solid place in the central repertoire. They abound with stark declamatory gestures, brooding lyrical paragraphs, and sardonic music hall pastiches.

The bright and closely detailed sonics serve Tansman’s gnarly yet lean keyboard sonorities well, to say nothing of Reyes’ appropriately steel-edged, brilliantly articulated fingerwork. Let’s hope that this second of Reyes’ two Tansman releases signifies a long overdue cycle devoted to the composer’s complete solo piano output.

— Jed Distler

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Alexander Tansman (12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish-born French composer. Born in Łódź to Jewish parents, he studied piano, composition and conducting before earning a law degree from Warsaw University. After moving to Paris in 1919, he gained recognition as a pianist and composer, influenced particularly by Stravinsky and Ravel. His international career included performances and tours across Europe, Asia and America. During World War II, he fled to Los Angeles with his family. Although he continued composing prolifically after returning to Paris, his neo-Classical style gradually fell out of favor.

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Éliane Reyes (born 1977) is a Belgian pianist. She demonstrated talent from an early age, giving her first recital at five. Her artistic development was shaped by influential encounters with György Cziffra and Martha Argerich, as well as studies at leading European music institutions. Internationally acclaimed, she has received numerous honors, including Belgium's Octaves de la Musique and multiple International Classical Music Award nominations. Reyes is known for her versatile repertoire, recordings, and innovative lecture-concerts. She currently teaches at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Paris Conservatoire.

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