Fantasie: 7 Composers, 7 Keyboards

by Alexander Melnikov

Overview

For keyboard geeks, this album is essential. Pianist Alexander Melnikov showcases a variety of keyboard instruments, many of them his own possessions, from a copy of a mighty double-manual 17th century Ruckers harpsichord in the Bach Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903, to a modern Steinway in the slam-bang finale, the Improvisation and Fugue, Op. 38, of Alfred Schnittke. Several of the instruments are quite unusual. Hear the haunting tangent piano in the Fantasia in F sharp minor, H. 300, Wq 67, of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, or the 1828 Viennese Graf piano on Mendelssohn's Fantasia in F sharp minor, Op. 28; historically oriented performances of Mendelssohn are not common. Yet the album has a second programming strand, and it is one of general interest beyond keyboard circles. The fantasia (German: Fantasie, French: fantaisie) is unique in that it is unchanged in its essentials since the Renaissance, and it is fascinating to hear those essentials as the march of styles unfolds against them. Harmonia Mundi contributes splendidly detailed sound from Berlin's Teldex Studio in a recording of great general interest that made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2023. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	04/28/2023
Label:	Harmonia Mundi
UPC:	3149020947111
Rank:	191250

Tracks

1. Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor BWV 903~Fantasia
2. Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor BWV 903~Fugue
3. Fantasia in F-sharp minor H. 300, Wq. 67
4. Fantasia (Fragment) in C minor K. 396~[Excerpt]
5. Fantasia (Fragment) in D minor K. 397
6. Fantasia in F-sharp minor Op. 28~I. Con moto agitato
7. Fantasia in F-sharp minor Op. 28~II. Allegro con moto
8. Fantasia in F-sharp minor Op. 28~III. Presto
9. Fantasia in F minor Op. 49
10. 6 Stücke, Op. 33b~4. Fantasia in modo antico
11. Improvisation & Fugue Op. 38~Improvisation
12. Improvisation & Fugue Op. 38~Fugue

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alexander Melnikov   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Alexander Melnikov   Liner Notes,Photography
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach   Composer
Charles Johnston   Liner Note Translation
Stephanie Wollny   Liner Note Translation
Martin Sauer   Artistic Director
Alfred Schnittke   Composer
Felix Mendelssohn   Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach   Composer
Frederic Chopin   Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart   Composer
Benedikt Schroeder   Engineer
Irene Weber-Froboese   Liner Note Translation
Sebastian Nattkemper   Editing
Christoph Friedrich Schmahl   Instrument Design
Carsten Schulz   Piano Technician,Photography
Georg Ott   Photography,Piano Technician
Ferruccio Busoni   Composer
Markus Fischinger   Photography,Piano Technician,Instrument Design
Jean-Jacques Groleau   Liner Notes
Siegmar Kesselmann   Piano Technician
Christoph Kern   Instrument Design
Julian Schwenkner   Editing
Alois Graff   Instrument Design
Laurent Cantagrel   Liner Note Translation