{"id":39418,"date":"2016-10-23T18:16:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T22:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=39418"},"modified":"2016-10-24T09:04:44","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T13:04:44","slug":"record-keeping-charles-richard-hamelin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/10\/23\/record-keeping-charles-richard-hamelin\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | Charles Richard-Hamelin Confirms His Growing Reputation For Chopin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CHARLES
CHARLES RICHARD-HAMELIN LIVE. BEETHOVEN: Two Rondos Op. 51. ENESCU: Suite No. 2 for piano Op. 10. CHOPIN: Ballade No. 3 Op. 47. Nocturne Op. 55 No. 2. Introduction and Rondo Op. 16. Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major \u201cHeroic\u201d Op. 53. Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano. Analekta\u00a0 AN 2 9129. Total Time: 70:00.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the past few years, Charles Richard-Hamelin has emerged as one of the most gifted pianists of his generation. Having studied at McGill and at Yale, he went on to win prizes at various international competitions, and in 2015, was a silver medalist at the International Chopin Competition. That same year, he made his first recording \u2014 not surprisingly, all-Chopin \u2014 for Analekta (AN2 9127). There is more Chopin on this, his latest CD, as well as some less well-known music by Beethoven and Enescu. Like the earlier Chopin CD, this live concert (May 2016) recording features superb performances and exceptionally fine sound.<\/p>\n

The interesting choice of repertoire on this CD is refreshing; the works by Beethoven and Chopin, for example, are pieces which, for the most part, are infrequently played. The two Beethoven Rondos Op. 51, although well off the familiar Beethoven track, are by no means inconsequential pieces. They do not scale the heights of the Path<\/em>\u00e9tique <\/em>or Appassionata<\/em> sonatas \u2014 not to mention the late piano sonatas or the Diabelli Variations<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 but they are nonetheless significant contributions to our appreciation of the rondo form. Richard-Hamelin treats them as the connoisseur\u2019s treats they are, with impressive technical mastery.<\/p>\n

This CD was recorded live at the Salle Raoul-Jobin of the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City. Kudos to producer\/sound engineer Carl Talbot and assistant recording engineer Jack Kelly for capturing the sheer beauty of the piano sound in this hall.<\/p>\n

George Enescu (1881-1955) was one of the great musical polymaths of his time. He could do it all: play both the violin and the piano at a virtuoso level, conduct, teach and compose. It is good to see that more and more of his compositions are being recorded and widely appreciated.<\/p>\n

Enescu wrote the Piano Suite No. 2 in D major Op. 10 at the age of twenty-two. While its four movements \u2014 Toccata, Sarabande, Pavane and Bour\u00e9e \u2014 are based on Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century forms, the sound is definitely early Twentieth Century. The original title of this piano suite, Des cloches sonores<\/em> (Ringing Bells), also identifies its unifying feature \u00a0\u2014 bells \u2014 Through his interpretation of both the delicate and powerful sonorities in this score, Richard-Hamelin gives us a consistently engrossing performance.<\/p>\n

Chopin\u2019s Introduction and Rondo Op. 16, like Beethoven\u2019s Rondos Op. 51, although fine music, is seldom played. Richard-Hamelin easily meets its considerable technical challenges.<\/p>\n

The Polonaise No. 6 in A-flat major Op. 53, one of Chopin\u2019s best-known works \u2014 the polonaise with the rapidly repeated four-note figure in octaves in the bass \u2014 appears to be an encore from this live concert. \u00a0With this exciting performance, its well-judged transitions and resounding but perfectly balanced climaxes, Richard-Hamelin confirms his growing reputation as a Chopin interpreter.<\/p>\n

All in all, this fine CD is a major addition to Charles Richard-Hamelin\u2019s growing discography.<\/p>\n

Charles Richard-Hamelin will be appearing at Koerner Hall in Toronto on November 10 as part of a concert titled “Generation Next<\/a>.” He will play Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

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With this exciting performance, its well-judged transitions and resounding but perfectly-balanced climaxes, Richard-Hamelin confirms his growing reputation as a Chopin interpreter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,77,47,5739,51,52],"tags":[269,4678],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/Charles-Richard-Hamelin-Beethoven-Enescu-Chopin.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-afM","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39418"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39423,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39418\/revisions\/39423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39418"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=39418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}