COMPOSERS: Moszkowski
LABELS: Collins
WORKS: Piano Music
PERFORMER: Seta Tanyel (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 14122 DDD
The life of Moritz Moszkowski is a tale of riches to rags. At the turn of the century he was one of the most popular composers of light and brilliantly effective piano music. Changing fashions and the First World War led to the loss of Moszkowski’s fortune and he died in 1925 in virtual poverty.
Few shadows darken this selection of graceful pieces, culminating in Moszkowski’s arrangement of the ‘Chanson bohème’ from Carmen, which is sufficiently richly detailed to keep a virtuoso busy without sounding cluttered. Seta Tanyel is a strong, even forceful player who gives the music due brilliance, though to my mind she takes it a bit too straight. As a composer, Moszkowski was surely more carefree and capricious than Tanyel allows. Compare the way she plays his Serenata with Stephen Hough’s version (on Virgin’s Piano Album II) and you’ll hear what I mean. Adrian Jack