France Poem

The collection includes piano works composed over the past 30 years from "Piano Media" (1972) to "Piano Poem" (2003), selected by composer Toshi Ichiyanagi himself, a master pianist who has earned the composer's great trust. Ami Fujiwara performs with deep understanding and empathy various types of music, from difficult pieces that push the pianist to his or her technical limits to pieces that focus on issues of expression, such as poetry readings. Please listen to these contemporary masterpieces by a virtuoso pianist who has earned the composer's great trust.

Some music lovers are familiar with Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne, Liszt’s symphonic poem based on Victor Hugo. But who knows that, ten years earlier, César Franck was inspired by the same poem? This early piece is recorded here by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck. They couple it with the famous Symphony in D minor, dedicated to Henri Duparc and premiered, without much success, in 1889. Even if the score is quite well-known today, in the end it is performed quite rarely, which is a pity, because it really has all the characteristics of a masterpiece: melodic and harmonic inspiration, refined orchestration, variety of mood, an ingenious structure.

Dukas's three mature orchestral compositions are gathered on this attractive disc. The earliest is the little-known symphony, obviously inspired by Franck's three-movement symphony written a decade earlier. Like Franck, Dukas creates a large-scale sonata-form first movement; a lyrical slow movement that incorporates lighter, scherzo-like elements; and a rushing finale that contains a grandiose contrasting melody. La Peri, a late work, is subtitled "Dance Poem." It is glisteningly orchestrated–yet remarkably restrained–clearly delineated, colorful music. The Sorcerer's Apprentice (composed in between the other two) is deservedly popular, a colorful, splendidly lucid tone poem. Slatkin leads brisk, strongly played performances.

Some music lovers are familiar with Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne, Liszt’s symphonic poem based on Victor Hugo. But who knows that, ten years earlier, César Franck was inspired by the same poem? This early piece is recorded here by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck. They couple it with the famous Symphony in D minor, dedicated to Henri Duparc and premiered, without much success, in 1889. Even if the score is quite well-known today, in the end it is performed quite rarely, which is a pity, because it really has all the characteristics of a masterpiece: melodic and harmonic inspiration, refined orchestration, variety of mood, an ingenious structure. Two works by Franck… by Franck! This album marks the beginning of a collaboration between Alpha and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, which will focus on very varied repertories.

Scriabin composed most of his single-movement fourth symphony The Poem of Ecstasy between 1905 and 1908 in Italy and France. He originally intended it to be called Poème orgiaque (‘Orgiastic Poem’) with its unprecedented raw sensuality and overpowering aesthetic, taking chromaticism beyond even Wagnerian voluptuousness. His earlier Symphony No. 2 in C minor adopts César Franck’s cyclical ideas to which Scriabin layered sweeping climaxes, majestic intensity and rich orchestral colour that enliven its five movements with ceaseless invention.