Alexandre Tansman - Piano Music (Maria Argentiero)

Information

Composer: Alexandre Tansman

• Sonatine transatlantique
• Trois préludes en forme de blues
• Tempo americano (from Sinfonia No.3 - piano transcription by the composer)
• Le tour du monde en miniature
• Esquisses javanaises (Unpublished Manuscript)

Maria Argentiero, piano

Date: 2022

Label: Piano Classics

-----------------------------------------------------------

Description

Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986) was born in Poland but spent most of his musical life in Paris, always referred to himself as ‘un compositeur polonais’ despite becoming a French citizen in 1938. His Transatlantic Sonatina was the result of a 1927 trip to the US, where he discovered jazz. The opening Foxtrot mixes up Joplin and Gershwin, before an exquisite ‘Spiritual and Blues’ and finally a swinging Charleston.

Tansman was a marvellous tune-smith with a Polish heritage but a French accent gained from his move to Paris in 1919. There he absorbed elements of cabaret, music-hall, café, jazz and fashionable dances, blurring boundaries between artistic and popular music. The Trois préludes en forme de blues pick up the stylistic theme hinted at in the middle movement of the sonata. Le tour du monde en miniature (1933) affirms Tansman’s status as among the most cosmopolitan composers of the 20th century: a whirlwind 15-movement suite that sets out among the coconut groves of California and ends up dancing a tarantella in Naples, having stopped off in far-eastern jungles and temples along the way.

Maria Argentiero ends her uniquely compiled survey of Tansman’s piano music with a world premiere recording of the Esquisses javanaises (1945) – a set of three tone-pictures for the piano which returns to the central panels of the Tour de monde and their potent evocations of eastern culture from a western perspective.

-----------------------------------------------------------

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.

***

Maria Argentiero (born 1985) is an Italian pianist. She graduated with honors from the "G. Paisiello" Conservatory in Taranto and subsequently earned advanced academic diplomas in Piano, Chamber Music, and Music Teaching. She further developed her artistry with Roberto Prosseda and Bruno Canino. Active as both a soloist and chamber musician, her 2022 album of Tansman's piano music with Piano Classics earned positive international reviews. Alongside her performing career, she has taught piano since 2007, authored a book on dyslexia in piano education, and promotes music through social media.

-----------------------------------------------------------