Mikhail Ivanovitch Glinka (1804-1857)
Nocturne en fa mineur "La Séparation"
Nocturne en mi bémol majeur

Carl Eduard Hartknoch (1796-1834)
Nocturne en si mineur, op. 8 n° 2

Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894)
Nocturne en sol bémol majeur, op. 28 n° 1
Nocturne en sol majeur, op. 69 n° 2
Nocturne en la bémol majeur, op. 71 n° 1

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovski (1840-1893)
Nocturne en fa majeur, op. 10 n° 1
Nocturne en do dièse mineur, op. 19 n° 4

Alexandre Scriabine (1872-1915)
Nocturne en la bémol majeur, WoO 3
Nocturne en fa mineur, op. 5 n° 1
Nocturne en la majeur, op. 5 n° 2
Nocturne en ré bémol majeur, op. 9 n° 2

Konstantin Antipov (1859-1927)
Nocturne en fa dièse mineur, op. 6 n° 2
Nocturne en la bémol majeur, op. 12

Alexandre Glazounov (1865-1936)
Nocturne en ré bémol majeur, op. 37

Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901)
Nocturne en fa dièse mineur n° 3

Bart van Oort, piano (Steinway, 1875)

Le premier des deux volumes de l’anthologie consacrée aux nocturnes russes parcourt le 19e siècle de 1828, Nocturne en mi bémol majeur de Glinka, à 1896, Nocturne en fa dièse mineur n° 3 de Kalinnikov. Glinka ouvre la collection avec deux pièces inspirées de son maître, le compositeur irlandais fixé à Moscou John Field, créateur du genre nocture dont s’inspirera Chopin. Le Nocturne en si mineur de Hartknoch doit beaucoup à son professeur Hummel. Suivent quatre des onze nocturnes du compositeur et pianiste virtuose Rubinstein aux accents chopiniens. Les deux opus de Tchaikovski débordent de lyrisme poétique. Autre pianiste virtuose, Scriabine rend hommage à Chopin dans les nocturnes de l’opus 5. Le Nocturne en ré bémol majeur, op. 9 n° 2 pour la main gauche se distingue par sa virtuosité. Élève de Rimsky-Korsakov, Antipov nous offre deux pièces d’une grande douceur de facture classique. Une tristesse toute schumanienne transparaît dans le Nocturne en ré bémol majeur de Glazounov, le plus long de ce CD. Le bref Nocturne en fa dièse mineur de Kalinnikov, compositeur oublié mort très jeune, clôt le récital. Le pianiste néerlandais Bart von Oort qui a gravé en 2003 un coffret de 4 CD The Art of the Nocturne in the 19th Century déploie ces « musiques pour la nuit » emblématiques du romantisme musical dans les sonorités « historiques » d’un beau piano Steinway de 1875. (Gérard Martin)

This recording, along with the forthcoming Vol.2, represents a first, comprehensive anthology of the Russian nocturne in its nearly two-hundred-year development. Some nocturnes are recorded here for the first time. The earliest Russian nocturnes were composed by Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) and owe a debt to his teacher, the Irish composer John Field. The first, in E flat, was written in 1828 before his first trip to Italy. His Nocturne in F minor ‘La Séparation’, written at the height of his career, is styled like a ‘romance’ (song) without words. Karl Eduard Hartknoch (1796–1834) made his debut in 1816 as a concert pianist in Leipzig. In 1824 he moved to Russia, first to St. Petersburg and then to Moscow where he worked as a music teacher. He left a considerable number of piano compositions, including two concertos and the three Nocturnes Op.8. Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894) was a key figure in the history of Russian music, the first of the nation’s composers whose works for solo piano embodied the same serious artistic ideas as his symphonies and chamber music. He wrote eleven Nocturnes, two of them for piano four hands. The two Nocturnes by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) were written in the 1870s and are regarded as real jewels of Russian music. Tchaikovsky was interested in the subtle movements of the human soul, and like his symphonic and operatic works, his nocturnes abound with the heartfelt poetry of everyday life. Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) was famous during his lifetime as a piano virtuoso, known for performing his own music. Scriabin wrote the majority of his works for the piano, and the two Nocturnes Op.5 reveal the influence of Frederic Chopin (his model during his early years). While not the first, the Nocturne for the Left Hand in D Flat is perhaps the greatest 19th-century masterpiece written for the left hand. Konstantin Antipov (1859–1927) was a member of the Belyaev Group. He graduated from Rimsky-Korsakov’s composition class at the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1886. Antipov is the author of a symphonic allegro, piano pieces (including two nocturnes), romances and other works. Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) was an outstanding composer, conductor, educator, and social activist. He worked at the St Petersburg Conservatory for almost 30 years, directing it for more than 20. His style is characterized by attention to texture, harmonic sumptuousness and clarity of melodic lines. Vasily Kalinnikov (1866–1900) lived a short but eventful and creative life. His most significant output was orchestral: symphonies, intermezzos and incidental music for Tolstoy’s Tsar Boris. He wrote just seven works for the piano in the 1890s. His impressionistic Nocturne in F-sharp minor resembles lyrical miniatures in the spirit of Tchaikovsky.