Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (L.73/CD.72), is a composition for piano and orchestra by French composer Claude Debussy. It was composed between October 1889 and April 1890, but only received its first public performance in 1919, a year after Debussy's death. The work is dedicated to the pianist René Chansarel, who had been scheduled to play the solo part for the cancelled premiere in 1890. [1]
The Fantaisie is scored for:
piano solo;
3 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais (English horn), 2 (soprano) clarinets in B♭, 3 bassoons, bass clarinet in B♭;
4 (French) (valve) horns in F, 3 trumpets in F;
2 harps;
strings (1st & 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses).
The Fantaisie is in three movements, as in a traditional concerto, with the first movement in sonata form, a slow, calm middle movement, and an energetic finale. [2] This despite the title, a fantasia is traditionally in a single movement with several sections of vastly different character, and contains no "sonata form". The title Fantaisie was given to this work because it is in cyclic form: it uses the same two themes in all three movements. [2]
A typical performance lasts approximately 25 minutes.
The first public performance of the work, scheduled in 1890, was cancelled when Vincent d'Indy, who was chosen as conductor, claimed that he did not have enough time for rehearsals and proposed to perform only the first movement, which Debussy declined. [3] Over the next few years the very self-critical Debussy made numerous revisions, but eventually gave up on the work and declared that the Fantaisie would never be published or performed during his lifetime. [4] It received its first public performance posthumously on November 20, 1919, [1] in London by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Alfred Cortot as soloist. [3] It was published first in a two-piano version (2nd piano is a reduction of the orchestra score) made by Gustave Samazeuilh in 1919, with the full score in 1920, both by Eugène Fromont, one of Debussy's early publishers.
Debussy Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra Poulenc Aubade-Choreographic Concerto for Piano and Eighteen Instruments Fabienne Jacquinot Westminster Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anatole Fistoulari Parlophone PMC 1019
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works, and is among the most popular of the genre. Grieg, being only 24 years old at the time of the composition, had taken inspiration from Robert Schumann's only concerto, also being in A minor.
Jorge Bolet was a Cuban-born American concert pianist, conductor and teacher. Among his teachers were Leopold Godowsky, and Moriz Rosenthal – the latter an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt.
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, was composed between 1929 and 1931. The piano concerto is in three movements, with a total playing time of a little over 20 minutes. Ravel said that in this piece he was not aiming to be profound but to entertain, in the manner of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Among its other influences are jazz and Basque folk music.
Claude Helffer was a French pianist.
Marguerite Marie-Charlotte Long was a French pianist, pedagogue, lecturer, and an ambassador of French music.
Joel Krosnick is an American cellist who has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the world for over 40 years. As a member of the Juilliard String Quartet from 1974 to 2016, he performed the great quartet literature throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Paul Badura-Skoda was an Austrian pianist.
Pascal Rogé is a French pianist.
Jean Dubé is a Canadian concert pianist. In 2002 he won the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition.
Théophile Ysaÿe was a Belgian composer and pianist, born in Verviers, Belgium. His brother was the violinist and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe.
Florian Uhlig is a German classical pianist.
Kun-woo Paik is a South Korean pianist. He has performed with multiple orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.
Carol Rosenberger is a classical pianist. In 1976, Rosenberger was chosen to represent America's women concert artists by the President's National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. She has given performance workshops for young musicians on campuses nationwide. Rosenberger recorded over 30 albums on the Delos Productions, Inc. recording label. Rosenberger's memoir, To Play Again: A Memoir of Musical Survival was published in 2018 by She Writes Press.
Alsatian conductor Charles Munch was one of the most widely recorded symphonic conductors of the twentieth century. Here is a partial list of his recordings.
Marylène Dosse is a French-born American classical pianist.
Rachel Kolly, born 21 May 1981 in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a Swiss violinist. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at the age of five.
Gabriel Tacchino was a French classical pianist and teacher.
Francis Poulenc's Concerto pour deux pianos in D minor, FP 61, was composed over the period of three months in the summer of 1932. It is often described as the climax of Poulenc's early period. The composer wrote to the Belgian musicologist Paul Collaer: "You will see for yourself what an enormous step forward it is from my previous work and that I am really entering my great period." The concerto was commissioned by and dedicated to the Princess Edmond de Polignac, an American-born arts patron to whom many early-20th-century masterpieces are dedicated, including Stravinsky's Renard, Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte, Kurt Weill's Second Symphony, and Satie's Socrate. Her Paris salon was a gathering place for the musical avant-garde.
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a French classical pianist.
Claude Kahn was a French classical pianist, internationally known for his interpretations of especially the music of Chopin, but also of French music as soloist or accompanied by great orchestras in the world. He founded and directed a piano competition in 1970, to become international as the Concours International de Piano Claude Kahn. He founded the conservatoire of Antibes in 1971 and directed it until 1991.