NOBUYUKI TSUJII

Bach’s sunny and melodic French Suite No. 5 moves from a gentle Allemande to a lively Courante, an expressive Sarabande, a perky Gavotte and a nimble Bourée. The concluding Gigue is then preceded by France’s slow version of this dance, a Louré. Liszt’s three Venezia e Napoli pieces of 1859 draw on other composers’ responses to Italian folk music. Serene Gondoliera and brooding Canzone were gondolier songs by Peruchini and Rossini. Canzone then rolls seamlessly into the darkly glittering Tarantella on themes by Guillaume-Louis Cottrau. The title of Ravel’s 1899 Pavane pour une infante défunte sounds dark, but far from being a lament for a dead princess, it evokes the sort of pavane possibly danced by one of the Spanish princesses painted by Velázquez. Kapustin celebrates America’s jazz riches across his rhythmically complex and technically formidable concert etudes of 1985; further influences include, in ‘Reverie’ No. 2, Chopin.