Artist: Ivan Ilic

Title: Preludes for Piano

Condition:

Format: CD

Release Date: 2023

Label: Chandos

UPC: 095115226421

Genre: Classical Artists

Album Tracks

1. No. 1, Préambule
2. No. 2, Andantino
3. No. 3, Confidence
4. No. 4, Aria
5. No. 5, Canon
6. No. 6, Grave
7. No. 7, Allegro Commodo
8. No. 8, Fughetta
9. No. 9, Étude Pour la Petite Cécile À L'occasion de Sa 3E Année
10. No. 10, Tristesse
11. No. 11, Pastorale
12. No. 12, Passacaglietta
13. No. 13, Rigaudon
14. No. 14, Sarabande
15. No. 15, Valse Mignonne
16. No. 16, Molto Espressivo
17. No. 17, Les Touches Noires
18. No. 18, Petit Ruisseau
19. No. 19, Bravura
20. No. 20, -
21. No. 21, Leggiero
22. No. 22, Scarlattiana
23. No. 23, Toccata-Fanfare
24. No. 24, Pour Conclure

Born in Liège, Belgium, in 1873, Joseph Jongen showed an outstanding precocity for music from a very early age, and was admitted to the Liège Conservatoire at the extraordinarily young age of seven. He won a First Prize for fugue in 1895 and honours diplomas in piano and organ the next year. In 1897, he won the Belgian Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to Italy, Germany, and France, where he experienced the music of Brahms and Richard Strauss, Fauré, Debussy, and Ravel, all of which would exert an influence on the young composer. Although he composed in numerous genres, including the symphony and concerto, as well as chamber music, instrumental pieces, and choral works, it is his output for the organ for which he is now best known. The Serbian-American pianist Ivan Ilic helps to redress the balance with this new recording of two of Jongen's substantial sets of Préludes for piano. The 13 Préludes, Op. 69 are expansive in nature and extremely poetic - each bears an evocative title. They are dedicated to Émile Bosquet who gave their première, in 1923. The 24 Petits Préludes dans tous les tons were begun in 1940 and (like Bach's preludes and fugues) circle through each and every key, major and minor. Arranged in twelve pairs, the minor key following the major on the same tonic note, these works reflect Jongen's affinity for (and mastery of) their free form, as well as demonstrating his mature compositional style.