Listen & tracks
3 of 33 tracks have a preview · 3 works · 70:00
-
24 Preludes, Op. 32 (1932-1933)Dmitri Shostakovich 24 movements28:44
- 1 Moderato I 1:18
- 2 Allegretto I :49
- 3 Andante I 2:00
- 4 Moderato II 1:56
- 5 Allegro vivace :33
- 6 Allegretto II 1:04
- 7 Andante II 1:18
- 8 Allegretto III :50
- 9 Presto :37
- 10 Moderato non troppo 1:45
- 11 Allegretto IV :49
- 12 Allegro non troppo 1:05
- 13 Moderato III 1:06
- 14 Adagio I 2:23
- 15 Allegretto V :49
- 16 Andantino I 1:00
- 17 Largo 1:40
- 18 Allegretto VI :47
- 19 Andantino II 1:18
- 20 Allegretto furioso :37
- 21 Allegretto poco moderato :34
- 22 Adagio II 2:05
- 23 Moderato IV 1:04
- 24 Allegretto VII 1:17
-
Preludes (1928-1929)Olivier Messiaen 8 movements30:00
- 25 La colombe 1:35
- 26 Chant d'extase dans un paysage triste 5:40
- 27 Le nombre léger 1:39
- 28 Instants défunts 3:39
- 29 Les sons impalpables du rêve 3:31
- 30 Cloches d'angoisse et larmes d'adieu 6:10
- 31 Plainte calme 2:44
- 32 Un reflet dans le vent 5:02
-
33 Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, Op. 12 (1926) Dmitri Shostakovich 11:16
Youthful works from two of the twentieth century’s most distinctive voices sit side by side. Messiaen’s eight Preludes and Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes are worlds apart, yet both overflow with invention. The latter’s first Sonata, a powerhouse of futurist pianism, still carries tremendous impact decades after its premiere.
An exhilarating snapshot of these iconoclastic young composers at the start of their careers.
In the artist’s words
Both were also inspired by one of the two great ‘religions’ of the twentieth century, Catholicism and Communism respectively. Messiaen was a devout Catholic and his spirituality is a fundamental element of almost his entire creative output.
Shostakovich, three times a recipient of the Order of Lenin, was regarded as a champion of Communism. When I heard the wonderful pianist Ayako Uehara perform the breathtakingly difficult Shostakovich Sonata during the 2000 Sydney International Piano Competition, I realised why I hadn’t heard it live before, and also that I had to perform it. (It also stung me that as so often happens in competitions Ms Uehara’s obvious imagination, creativity and daring went unrewarded, and as official ABC Classic FM commentator I said as much at the time).
The important point to remember about this type of work is that the music only makes sense when one is playing in extremis, and makes a nonsense of the careful roboticism trotted out for so much classical music performance. Shostakovich’s message is urgent and raw, overflowing with intelligence and outrage. He himself played the work, which speaks volumes of his own pianistic prowess and recklessness, and it is very hard to imagine him pulling any punches in performance.
Indeed, criticism of his playing concerns his “excitability”, hardly something one can hold against him given the passionate material being dispatched. The enthusiasm of discovery, of finding a 12-tone system (all notes of the row are used in the first bar, just as in the Boulez 2nd sonata [1948]) to free his imagination stands as contrast with the obvious tonal gloom and irony of his later works. Hints of this ironic gloom and code – a result of charges of “formalism” directed at him and others by the detestable Union of Composers – are just discernibly emerging I think in the preludes.
Reviews
One of the most rewarding piano discs of the year
Insightful, powerful performances
As we’ve come to expect, Michael Kieran Harvey’s performances of all these works are astounding … Highly recommended
Here is yet another remarkable testament to Harvey’s skill and musical insight
Artists
Michael Kieran Harvey
piano
Australian pianist and composer Dr Michael Kieran Harvey FAHA is among the foremost interpreters of contemporary piano music of his generation. A champion of Australian music, he regularly commissions new work and has performed with the country’s leading contemporary ensembles and orchestras.
Dmitri Shostakovich
composer
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated of the twentieth century, whose symphonies, chamber works and piano music remain central to the repertoire.
Olivier Messiaen
composer
Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was a French composer, organist and ornithologist whose colour-rich, rhythmically intricate music stands among the major achievements of the twentieth century.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Michael Kieran Harvey · piano
Technical credits
-
Recording Engineer
Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley
-
Editing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
-
Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
-
Venue
Move Records Studio
-
Credit
Graeme Lee
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 70 minutes 0 seconds
- Release date
- 2006
- Categories
- Classical, Keyboard
- Musical work copyright
- © 2006 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2006 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3308
- EAN
- 9314574330823
More to explore
The life in between
Michael Kieran Harvey anchors this solo piano programme with Martin Friedel’s final work, …the life in between…, then sets it among virtuoso scores by Pertout, Crossman, Spiers, Selleck and McAlley.
War Sonatas
Three piano sonatas by Michael Kieran Harvey, written as a response to twenty-first-century war. Spoken poems by Arjun von Caemmerer stand between the works, framing a triptych of anger, friendship and warning.
Threnody
Michael Kieran Harvey’s landmark 1995 Astra recital of late twentieth-century Australian piano music returns in a 2024 Move re-master. Premiere recordings by Harvey, Vine, Campbell, McCaughey, Byrne, Humble and Anderson form one continuous programme.
The Sparrow and the Mead Hall
Composed and mostly performed by Michael Kieran Harvey, these 2021 works move from the rarefied extended techniques of Piano Sonata #7 and Liszt–Busoni bravura in the Four Ballades to bebop wit in Lawyers… and metal-edged satire in Death Cap Mushroom.
Shichiseki
Collaborations with violinist Miwako Abe and cellist Alister Barker sit beside solos written for Michael Kieran Harvey by Gabriella Vici and Andrián Pertout, spanning Japanese, Latin American and South Indian influences.
Works for String Orchestra
Seventeen years after David Joseph’s Selected Works, Vol. 2 won wide critical acclaim, Works for String Orchestra gathers previously unreleased recordings, remastered for this album and showing his vivid, evocative style for strings.