This varied Homage to Mozart represents a noteworthy effort on the part of an independent pianist; Eric Himy carves out a unique program, based partly on his own research, and it makes for an unusual tour through the hall of meanings Mozart has held for musicians at various periods in history. A transcribed aria from an early and unknown Salieri opera (examined in manuscript by the artist) serves as a curtain raiser; it's a remarkably beautiful melody easily if mistakenly identifiable as music by Gluck. After a smooth ...
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This varied Homage to Mozart represents a noteworthy effort on the part of an independent pianist; Eric Himy carves out a unique program, based partly on his own research, and it makes for an unusual tour through the hall of meanings Mozart has held for musicians at various periods in history. A transcribed aria from an early and unknown Salieri opera (examined in manuscript by the artist) serves as a curtain raiser; it's a remarkably beautiful melody easily if mistakenly identifiable as music by Gluck. After a smooth performance of the Mozart Piano Sonata in B flat major, K. 333 (with a cadenza by Wanda Landowska at the end), Himy plunges into two contemporary works, the first of which he commissioned. The Hommage à Mozart by Spanish composer Elisenda Fábregas is an impressionist work with a very subtle range of allusion to Mozartian models -- the references range from full-blown themes to mere intervallic evocations, with the idea of laughter and the music of the unbalanced Queen of the Night in Die...
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