It's not so unusual to find recordings of music by John Field, the Irish composer who invented the nocturne, either with Field's nocturnes by themselves or paired with those of Chopin. Irish pianist David Quigley accomplishes the latter effectively on this Avie release, framing the program with pairs that suggest the influence of Field, whom Chopin met in the early 1830s. Field's Nocturne No. 5 deserves a bit better than it gets from the annotation here; of course it does not match Chopin in harmonic depth, but Field's way ...
Read More
It's not so unusual to find recordings of music by John Field, the Irish composer who invented the nocturne, either with Field's nocturnes by themselves or paired with those of Chopin. Irish pianist David Quigley accomplishes the latter effectively on this Avie release, framing the program with pairs that suggest the influence of Field, whom Chopin met in the early 1830s. Field's Nocturne No. 5 deserves a bit better than it gets from the annotation here; of course it does not match Chopin in harmonic depth, but Field's way of thinking about texture in a new kind of work that was not precisely either genre composition nor character piece, was unique, and Chopin plainly studied it closely The really distinctive feature of Quigley's album is that most of it is not devoted to Field and Chopin at all. Instead, he offers a survey of the nocturne as it developed and persisted into the 20th century. A couple of Irish composers, perhaps following Field's example, are included, and there are some little-known...
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.