Mahan Esfahani - Byrd, Bach, Ligeti (Wigmore Hall Live) '2014

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Clarifica me, Pater I , MB 47 (Live)
02. Clarifica me, Pater (Live)
03. Clarifica me, Pater II , MB 48 (Live)
04. Clarifica me, Pater III , MB 49 (Live)
05. Jhon come kiss me now , MB 81 (Live)
06. Pavan and Galliard No. 2 in C minor, MB 31: Pavan (Live)
07. Pavan and Galliard No. 2 in C minor, MB 31: Galliard (Live)
08. The Marche before the Battell, MB 93 (Live)
09. Fantasia in D minor, MB 46 (Live)
10. Pavan and Galliard No. 1 in C minor, MB 29: Pavan (Live)
11. Pavan and Galliard No. 1 in C minor, MB 29: Galliard (Live)
12. Callino casturame , MB 35 (Live)
13. Fantasia in A minor , MB 13 (Live)
14. Walsingham , MB 8 (Live)
15. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 3 (Live)
16. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 6 (Live)
17. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Canon a 2 per tonos (Live)
18. Passacaglia ungherese (Live)
19. Continuum (Live)
20. Hungarian Rock (Live)



Iranian-born harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani is emerging as a major star on his
instrument, and this recital, recorded live at London's Wigmore Hall in May
2013, offers an ideal place to start with his work. The program is unusual.
Esfahani starts with the keyboard works of William Byrd, with no fewer than 14
of them. That would normally be a risky move: Byrd's keyboard writing is dense
and somewhat tough, less outwardly virtuosic than similar works by John Bull and
other composers of the English Renaissance. But Esfahani's performances are
revelatory, and the album is worth the price for these alone. Byrd's
contrapuntal material and dance themes are shaped with profound care, and each
little piece builds to a startling level of intensity, reaching a peak with the
Fantasia from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (track 13). The three pieces from
Bach's Musical Offering, BWV 1079, here appear as the later stage of a
tradition: that's what they were, but they're rarely included in a program as
such, and Esfahani's handling of the relationship is masterful. Bach seems to be
the end of the tradition, but of course the tradition is not over at all, as you
hear in three fascinating neo-Baroque pieces by György Ligeti, works written
in defiance of East Bloc dissuasion about harpsichord playing. Throughout, there
is a real sense of command, a virtuoso presence that music like Byrd's needs but
seldom receives. A superb recital.

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