We know pianist Peter Vanhove from his now numerous recordings with which he lets us discover and rediscover the piano works of our Flemish composers. The success of this dedicated commitment has consistently translated into significant press attention and sales figures internationally. We ourselves awarded his Mortelmans CD When the Soul Listens (Pavane ADW 7547), in which he supplements piano works with 3 Mortelmans songs sung by Ukrainian countertenor Yuriy Mynenko, with a Golden Label. His commitment also did not go unnoticed by the Union of Belgian Composers, which awarded him the Fuga Trophy in 2012 for his commitment to the Flemish repertoire and the ambassadorial role he assumes for it abroad.
Peter Vanhove expanded his search for unjustly less played or lesser-known piano music to include our neighboring country France. He retrieved scores by Georges Bizet from the Paris Bibliothèque nationale and recorded them on a particularly appreciated CD Bizet-Piano Works (Pavane ADW 7515).
His new CD 'Gounod & Compagnie' (Pavane ADW 7595) is built around the figure of Charles Gounod (1818-1893) and the piano music from Parisian salons. He positions Gounod as a pivotal figure in a network of composer-pianists who met and inspired each other during this vibrant period.
With the words of Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré, cited in the CD booklet, he situates Gounod as the initiator of a typically French piano style; a pioneering role that branches out through his student Georges Bizet to indeed Gabriel Fauré and even Déodat de Séverac. But we also hear music by the piano prodigy Charles-Valentin Alkan, who, like his neighbor Frédéric Chopin and the cult figure Franz Liszt, moved in those circles of artist friends of which Gounod was a 'senior' pivotal figure: Gounod was the son-in-law of piano pedagogue Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann who organized his own salon and was the teacher of both Gounod and Alkan, Gounod himself was the teacher of Bizet and as mentioned his influence reached Ravel and Fauré.
On this CD are character pieces by Gounod (Six Romances) and Bizet (L'Aurore, Les Confidences), melodic gems such as Le ciel a visité la terre and the piano version of Gounod's Ave Maria, the extremely personal piano pieces by Alkan, to the refined Barcarolle No. 4 by Fauré or the Baigneuses au soleil by de Séverac bursting into glittering piano pearls; a discovery!
As with his previous albums, pianist Peter Vanhove depicts all this with a feel for color and atmosphere in the romantic mood paintings. But light and playful lines also find their place in the works by de Séverac and Fauré. The warm piano sound of the Steinway grand piano is well captured with clear and natural sound.
Immerse yourself in this piece of French cultural experience from the Belle Époque and Fin de siècle!
WHAT: Gounod & Compagnie
WHO: Peter Vanhove
RELEASED: Pavane, DDD, 2020