Jean Rondeau - Gradus ad Parnassum (CD)

Aspiring to Parnassus, the mythological mountain home of the Muses, Jean Rondeau explores the possibilities of the harpsichord in music composed over more than 400 years - much of it for the piano. He pays tribute to the Austrian composer Johann Joseph Fux, who in 1725 published the original Gradus ad Parnassum, an influential treatise on counterpoint, and to Muzio Clementi, whose similarly titled collection of piano studies came a century later. The theme continues with Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, an affectionate parody of Clementi from the Children's Corner suite. The album's scope extends to the renaissance (Palestrina) and to works conceived for the piano by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Rondeau's Gradus ad Parnassum sensitizes us to what repertoire written for the piano can reveal about the harpischord - and to what the harpsichord can reveal about repertoire written for the piano.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Ricercare del primo tuono - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Jean Rondeau
2. Harpeggio and Fuga in G Major: Harpeggio - Johann Joseph Fux - Jean Rondeau
3. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 "Divertimento": I. Allegro moderato - Franz Joseph Haydn - Jean Rondeau
4. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 "Divertimento": II. Adagio
5. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 "Divertimento": II. Adagio - Franz Joseph Haydn - Jean Rondeau
6. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:46 "Divertimento": III. Finale. Presto - Franz Joseph Haydn - Jean Rondeau
7. Gradus ad Parnassum, Op. 44: No. 45 in C Minor, Andante malinconico (Transcr. Rondeau) - Muzio Clementi - Jean Rondeau
8. 2 Preludes, Op. 39: No. 2 in C Major (Transcr. Rondeau) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Jean Rondeau
9. Children's Corner, CD. 119, L. 113: I. Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum (Transcr. Rondeau) - Claude Debussy - Jean Rondeau
10. Prelude in F Minor, WoO 55 (Transcr. Rondeau) - Ludwig van Beethoven - Jean Rondeau
11. Gradus ad Parnassum, Op. 44: No. 14 in F Major, Adagio sostenuto (Transcr. Rondeau) - Muzio Clementi - Jean Rondeau
12. Fantasia No. 3 in D Minor, K. 397 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Jean Rondeau
13. Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 "Semplice": II. Andante - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Jean Rondeau
14. Ciaccona in D Major, K. 403 - Johann Joseph Fux - Jean Rondeau
15. Ricercare del secondo tuono - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Jean Rondeau