Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCR896
Release Date: 2007-01-01
Martha Braden, piano
When pianist Martha Braden met composer-pianist Alexander Tcherepnin in 1949—she was twelve and he was fifty—she was simultaneously struck by his “electrifying playing”, and his “overwhelming music.” “The extremes of breathtaking- speed, power, and sheer volume of sound, on the one hand, and the lyricism, serenity, and humor, on the other, were not just qualities of his personality or his pianism,” Braden recalls. “They were actually embodied in the unique forms of the compositions themselves.”
Child of an artistic Russian family, a traveler and passionate scholar of cultures all over the world, Alexander Tcherepnin was an explorer and experimenter, and, finally, a master of sonority and form. A prolific and much-performed composer, who left four operas, thirteen ballets, four symphonies, numerous large orchestral and chamber works, and over two- hundred piano pieces (his concert programs were almost exclusively made up of his own works), Tcherepnin felt that music’s ultimate goal was to unite people, a mandate he ac- complished within his own creative output. Living in Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, and New York, and concertizing in hundreds of cities in between, he assimilated the music he found, welding it into a distinctive voice, anchored in the Russian expression of his childhood. Modernist, Russian, Chinese, cosmopolitan (in the best Parisian sense), his music translates Eastern language for Western ears, and vice versa. No wonder Aaron Copland called him “an honorary American composer,” and that to Toru Takemitsu he was “a father figure of Japanese music.”
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
When pianist Martha Braden met composer-pianist Alexander Tcherepnin in 1949—she was twelve and he was fifty—she was simultaneously struck by his “electrifying playing”, and his “overwhelming music.” “The extremes of breathtaking- speed, power, and sheer volume of sound, on the one hand, and the lyricism, serenity, and humor, on the other, were not just qualities of his personality or his pianism,” Braden recalls. “They were actually embodied in the unique forms of the compositions themselves.”
Child of an artistic Russian family, a traveler and passionate scholar of cultures all over the world, Alexander Tcherepnin was an explorer and experimenter, and, finally, a master of sonority and form. A prolific and much-performed composer, who left four operas, thirteen ballets, four symphonies, numerous large orchestral and chamber works, and over two- hundred piano pieces (his concert programs were almost exclusively made up of his own works), Tcherepnin felt that music’s ultimate goal was to unite people, a mandate he ac- complished within his own creative output. Living in Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, and New York, and concertizing in hundreds of cities in between, he assimilated the music he found, welding it into a distinctive voice, anchored in the Russian expression of his childhood. Modernist, Russian, Chinese, cosmopolitan (in the best Parisian sense), his music translates Eastern language for Western ears, and vice versa. No wonder Aaron Copland called him “an honorary American composer,” and that to Toru Takemitsu he was “a father figure of Japanese music.”
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Alexander Tcherepnin: Piano Works
| MP3/320 | $17.00 | |
| FLAC | $17.00 | |
| WAV | $17.00 | |
| CD-R | $17.00 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: I. Allegro marciale
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: II. Con vivacita
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: III. Vivo
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: IV. Lento con tristezza
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: V. Dolce
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: VI. Allegro con spirito
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: VII. Prestissimo
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: VIII. Allegro
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: IX. Allegretto
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: X. Presto
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Bagatelles, Op. 5: XI. CODA: Allegro marciale
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Message, Op. 39
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for my Saint
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for my family
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for sentiment
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for bourgeois happiness
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for work
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for life
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Voeux ("Wishes"), Op. 39b: ...for peace in The Middle East
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Five Concert Etudes, Op. 52: Shadow Play
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Five Concert Etudes, Op. 52: The Lute
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Five Concert Etudes, Op. 52: Homage to China
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Five Concert Etudes, Op. 52: Punch and Judy
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Five Concert Etudes, Op. 52: Chant
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Songs Without Words, Op. 82: Elegy
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Songs Without Words, Op. 82: Rondel
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Songs Without Words, Op. 82: Enigma
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Songs Without Words, Op. 82: The Juggler
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Songs Without Words, Op. 82: Hymn to Our Lady
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Sonata No. 2, Op. 94: I. Lento-animato
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Sonata No. 2, Op. 94: II. Andantino
Alexander Tcherepnin
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Sonata No. 2, Op. 94: III. Animato-Sostenuto
Alexander Tcherepnin
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