 ‘Grande Ville’ – a big city. It is the key to the album’s programme and at the same time to the entire life of the composer, Alexander Tansman (1897–1986), enclosed in five symbolic musical images. Each of these compositions was created in a different city in completely different circumstances; each one is associated with an important moment in his life, reflecting the life path of the artist – a Polish Jew who created mainly in France and the USA, gave concerts around the world, met musical celebrities and listened to music in the places where he stayed. The pieces featured on the album represent this creative path. The composition Dance de la Sorcière comes from the 1920s, from the period of the composer’s stay in Paris, caught up in the local musical life and, above all, in the art of Igor Stravinsky. It is a symphonic poem, bearing clear features of the Russian’s expressionist style. La Grande Ville, music to a ballet based on Andersen’s fairy tale, was inspired by other factors. This piece reveals the influence of jazz, which the composer marvelled at during his stay in the USA. The Sonata for two pianos, created for his young wife Colette Cras, a pianist with whom Tansman used to perform his pieces, and for his two little girls, was created in Nice, in the first year of World War II, during a long escape from the territory of occupied France to safe America. Back then, he and his family were already safe in Los Angeles. A serene mood, ‘enchanting’ fairy-tale sounds and gentleness devoid of unnecessary sentimentality are the attributes of the last composition on this album – Fantasy on Waltzes of Johann Strauss. The composer did not hide his fascination with both this musical genre and the figure of their most important creator. Perhaps he also missed Europe, the Old World, which the elegant Viennese waltz embodies so perfectly. Alexander Tansman’s compositions are performed by the BAAYON DUO, specialises in performing music for four hands or for two pianos.
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