Bart Van Oort

A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. The term nocturne (from French nocturne 'of the night', also named Notturno) was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemble piece in several movements, normally played for an evening occasion.

A wonderful idea brilliantly executed, Bart van Oort's four-disc set entitled The Art of the Nocturne is not only an in-depth examination of one of the most romantic of romantic musical forms, but also a really sexy set of seduction discs that cannot fail to warm even the coldest heart. The first disc in Oort's survey includes all the elegantly expressive Nocturnes of Irish-Russian composer John Field, the second and third discs include all the supremely sensual Nocturnes of Polish-French composer Frédéric Chopin, and the fourth disc includes individual Nocturnes by various contemporaries of Chopin, of whom the best known are Clara Schumann and Charles-Valentin Alkan and the least known is Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski.

The Nocturne is a romantic piano piece in which a nocturnal, romantic atmosphere is expressed, where perfumed melodies float serenely over a calmly murmuring accompaniment.-Credit where credit is due: the inventor of the genre is the Irish composer John Field, who made fame as a pianist of his own works. It needed the genius of Chopin to perfect the genre to the highest artistic level: Chopin's Nocturnes are the archetypes of romantic piano music, and count among his best loved works.

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.

This 6CD set charts not only the development of the Nocturne as a musical form, but also the development of the piano from the closing years of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Two great ‘piano schools’ had emerged, each having some of the greatest performers and composers of the day associated with them. Some of these composers were highly successful businessmen as well – Clementi and Pleyel in particular established highly successful piano manufacturing and music publishing firms. The English school, with its powerful instruments (of which the pianos of John Broadwood and Co are the best examples) enabled London based composers such as Cramer, Clementi and Dussek to write music with a singing almost bel canto quality.

Bohemia at the end of the 18th century and the early 19th was teeming with highly skilled composers and musicians, centred around the city of Prague. Charles Burney described it as ‘the conservatory of Europe’. He also found that rural areas were rich in musical activities, especially in schools. The majority of the composers wrote for their particular instrument, and the names of Dussek and Kozeluch in particular have survived to this day. They along with Vorisek are the best known composers on this fascinating programme of songs from this golden age of Czech music.