Impulses

Bach’s works have been, albeit cliché, a constant source of musical inspiration. The Keyboard Partita no. 1 BWV 825 is no exception. This recording features a beautifully resourceful and creative arrangement by German guitarist, Tilman Hoppstock.

In Hika, in memoriam Toru Takemitsu demonstrates Leo Brouwer’s ability to craft an atmosphere reminiscent of the composition’s dedicatee and inspiration, Toru Takemitsu. Brouwer juxtaposes this atmospheric material, with some of his most well-used and loved motifs.

Finally, a two-part fantasy by Napoléon Coste, Le Départ. The work is deeply programmatic and was inspired by the Siege of Sebastopol. The first section bears the title, Le Départ, depicting the departure of soldiers heading to war, filled with the melancholy of leaving loved ones behind and the agitation and apprehension of what is yet to come. The second section of the work is marked, Le Retour, and illustrates the return from war. It begins with a Marche Triomphale and develops with increasingly grandiose gestures and eventually erupting into a virtuosic coda to close the work.