The two discs of this German release, one of a series of interesting concept albums associated with the Klassik Center in the city of Kassel, offer more than "a little night music." The program is the chief attraction, and it's quite original. German pianist Heidrun Holtmann follows the nocturne idea both over time and through its wider manifestations. In her booklet notes she offers a few observations on the long association between music and the atmosphere of night; seemingly pretty commonplace stuff, but the music speaks ...
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The two discs of this German release, one of a series of interesting concept albums associated with the Klassik Center in the city of Kassel, offer more than "a little night music." The program is the chief attraction, and it's quite original. German pianist Heidrun Holtmann follows the nocturne idea both over time and through its wider manifestations. In her booklet notes she offers a few observations on the long association between music and the atmosphere of night; seemingly pretty commonplace stuff, but the music speaks for itself. The two discs, broadly speaking, are divided into works on disc 1 that helped establish the basic Romantic ideas of the night piece, and those on disc 2 that elaborated those ideas in the twentieth century. What's striking is not the disjunction between the two time periods but the continuities among the works on the program as a whole. Indeed, this disc could serve as exhibit A for an argument stressing the links between modernism and Romanticism. Night, musically...
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