Alexandre Tansman: Piano Works Margaret Fingerhut

• Alexandre Tansman (1897 - 1986): Recueil de Mazurkas (1915 – 28):
• 1 No. 1. Oberek: Vivo 01:14
• 2 No. 2. Moderato - Piu lento - Tempo I 03:35
• 3 No. 3. Oberek: Molto vivo 00:50
• 4 No. 4. Andante espressivo 01:25
• 5 No. 5. Modere (a Jan Smeterlin) 02:34
• 6 No. 6. Moderato 01:21
• 7 No. 7. Moderato 01:22
• 8 No. 8. Moderato 01:34
• 9 No. 9. Oberek: Molto vivace - Molto meno mosso 02:22
• 10 No. 10. Berceuse: Lento 01:36
• Sonata rustica (1925)
• 11 I. Allegro agreste 05:21
• 12 II. Cantilena: Largo 05:31
• 13 III. Danza Festiva: Molto allegro 03:28
• Troisième Sonatine (1933):
• 14 I. Pastorale: Anime 03:00
• 15 II. Hymne: Lento 02:47
• 16 III. Rondo (perpetuum mobile): Presto 02:35
• Trois Préludes en forme de Blues (1937):
• 17 No. 1. Lento cantabile 03:33
• 18 No. 2. Moderato 02:15
• 19 No. 3. Moderato 02:14
• Quatre Nocturnes (1952):
• 20 No. 1. Moderato 02:02
• 21 No. 2. Moderato 01:42
• 22 No. 3. Moderato 02:24
• 23 No. 4. Lento 01:12
• Album d’amis (1980):
• 24 I. Notturno (a Beatrice Decamps): Moderato 01:52
• 25 II. Tempo di Blues (a Philippe Marietti): Andante cantabile 01:49
• 26 III. Tempo di Mazur (a Janusz Cegiella): Allegro con moto 01:04
• 27 IV. Canzonetta (a Pierre Hasquenoph): Lento 02:23
• 28 V. Caprice (a Eugene Indjic): A piacere 01:49
• 29 VI. Pastorale (a Irene et Tadeusz Zielinski): Lento 02:02
• 30 VII. Etude (pour Monique [Haas] et Marcel Mihalovici): Allegro vivace 02:00
• 31 VIII. Hommage a Liszt (a Lulu et Vladimir Jankelevitch): Andante cantabile 02:07
• 32 IX. Berceuse polonaise (a la Direction et au Personnel des Editions Max Eschig): Tres lent 01:37
• Total Runtime 01:12:40

Info for Alexandre Tansman: Piano Works

Chandos has been attentive in promoting the orchestral works of Alexandre Tansman, who due to the vagaries of fashion has to a great extent been ignored. We now embark on the piano music and a deeply personal project for soloist Margaret Fingerhut. ‘My curiosity about the piano music of Tansman began over 20 years ago when I encountered the delightfully languid Berceuse he wrote for the album of Hommages to Roussel, and which I recorded for Chandos. The fact that he was born in Lodz, Poland, where my great-grandparents also came from, spurred me on to find out more about him, and since then I have been assiduously collecting his piano works - quite a task as it turns out that in the course of his long composing career Tansman was nothing if not prolific!’

‘I feel his music deserves to be revalued and heard by a new generation of listeners, and so I wanted to create a CD to present an overview of his unique style and musical language. While the influences of Ravel, Poulenc, Milhaud and Stravinsky are apparent, along with jazz-inspired techniques, he himself professed his music to be rooted in his native Polish culture. So the starting point for this disc had to be his Mazurkas – after all, he wrote more of them than almost any other composer except for that other famous Polish exile-in-Paris, Chopin! Listen to his 2nd Mazurka to be transported to a world filled with gentle sweet melancholy. For me his piano music abounds in lyrical expression, tenderness, elegance, grace, good humour and exuberant virtuosity (he loved writing on three staves with huge leaps at great speed!). It seems such a shame that the forces of dogma and experimentalism which ruled Paris since the Second World War left so many casualties in their wake, composers like Tansman who determinedly stuck with neoclassicism and who were not afraid of melody. It is my hope that his individual voice can speak to us afresh’.

'Margaret Fingerhut displays her special artistry and élan to Tansman’s music.'

…Margaret Fingerhut has an unerring sense of when to indulge the flamboyance, as well as of how to introduce a poetic quality without becoming unduly sentimental.” (GRAMOPHONE)

Tansman: Mazurkas Vol. 1 'Recueil de Mazurkas'
Piano Sonata No 1 'Rustica'
Sonatina for Piano No 1
3 Blues Preludes
Four Nocturnes for piano
Album des Amis


Perfomer: Margaret Fingerhut, Piano

Alexandre Tansman: Recueil de Mazurkas (a Albert Roussel)
No. 1. Oberek: Vivo
No. 2. Moderato - Piu lento - Tempo I
No. 3. Oberek: Molto vivo
No. 4. Andante espressivo
No. 5. Modere (a Jan Smeterlin)
No. 6. Moderato
No. 7. Moderato
No. 8. Moderato
No. 9. Oberek: Molto vivace - Molto meno mosso
No. 10. Berceuse: Lento
Alexandre Tansman: Sonata rustica
I. Allegro agreste
II. Cantilena: Largo
III. Danza Festiva: Molto allegro
Alexandre Tansman: Sonatine No. 3
I. Pastorale: Anime
II. Hymne: Lento
III. Rondo (perpetuum mobile): Presto
Alexandre Tansman: 3 Preludes en forme de Blues
No. 1. Lento cantabile
No. 2. Moderato
No. 3. Moderato
Alexandre Tansman: 4 Nocturnes
No. 1. Moderato
No. 2. Moderato
No. 3. Moderato
No. 4. Lento
Alexandre Tansman: Album d'amis
I. Notturno (a Beatrice Decamps): Moderato
II. Tempo di Blues (a Philippe Marietti): Andante cantabile
III. Tempo di Mazur (a Janusz Cegiella): Allegro con moto
IV. Canzonetta (a Pierre Hasquenoph): Lento
V. Caprice (a Eugene Indjic): A piacere
VI. Pastorale (a Irene et Tadeusz Zielinski): Lento
VII. Etude (pour Monique [Haas] et Marcel Mihalovici): Allegro vivace
VIII. Hommage a Liszt (a Lulu et Vladimir Jankelevitch): Andante cantabile
IX. Berceuse polonaise (a la Direction et au Personnel des Editions Max Eschig): Tres lent

Margaret Fingerhut
Margaret Fingerhut is regarded as one of the most poetic pianists of her generation who has captivated audiences in many different countries with her imaginatively designed recital programmes, “A World of Piano Themes”. In these programmes she explores the highways and byways of the piano repertoire, personally introducing the music to the audience from the keyboard. As a concerto soloist she has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players, in major venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican. She is often heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and many radio stations worldwide. Her film and television appearances include a role in “Testimony”, Tony Palmer's film about Shostakovich.


A Chandos artist, Margaret's extensive and eclectic discography has received worldwide critical acclaim. Her numerous discs reflect her long-standing fascination with exploring lesser-known repertoire, and include works by Bax, Berkeley, Bloch, Dukas, Falla, Grieg, Howells, Leighton, Novak, Stanford and Suk as well as pioneering collections of Russian and French music. Many have been selected as the Gramophone's Critics' Choice, and two of her Bax recordings - the Octet with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble and the Concertante for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra with Vernon Handley and the BBC Philharmonic - were short-listed for Gramophone awards. Her recent disc of solo piano music by the Polish/French composer Alexandre Tansman received the accolade of "Diapason D'Or" in France. She was also the soloist in the world première recording of Percy Young's arrangement of Elgar's sketches for his Piano Concerto slow movement, with the Munich Symphony Orchestra conducted by Douglas Bostock.


Margaret taught piano at the Royal Northern College of Music for a number of years and she is currently a Visiting Tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Summer schools include Chetham's International Summer Achool for Pianists and Dartington International Summer School where her teaching was described by The Spectator magazine as demonstrating "enormous skill and sympathy". She has given masterclasses in the USA, Canada and China and has also been on the jury for many competitions, including the BBC Musician of the Year.. In addition to her performing and teaching, Margaret has written articles for magazines such as Classical Music, Pianist and Piano Professional.

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