Shai Wosner - Impromptu (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

After his wonderfully quirky and highly praised Haydn & Ligeti album, Shai Wosner returns to solo piano repertoire for his next project. As always with this artist, there is something very different on offer - Impromptus by Chopin, Dvorak, Liszt, Gershwin, and Schubert rub shoulders with Beethoven's Fantasy Op.77 - the nearest thing we have to a Beethoven 'improvisation'. The composer did indeed improvise this work at a private house performance, then went home and wrote it down from memory! Ives's Improvisations 1&3 round off an eclectic programme.

"There is a rush that comes with losing yourself in an improvisation - the liberating feeling you get when that thing you are making up on the spot seems to take on a life of its own while you are just tagging along (there is also the thrill in the risk that whole thing might fall flat at any moment). I have loved it ever since" Shai Wosner.

TRACKLIST

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

1 4 Impromptus D. 935, Op. 142: I. Impromptu in F Minor 11:44

Charles Ives (1874-1954)

2 Improvisations for Piano, No. 3 00:53

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

3 Impromptu in D Minor, B. 129 04:30

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

4 Impromptu in Two Keys 02:27

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

5 Impromptu No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29 03:41

Franz Schubert

6 4 Impromptus D. 935, Op. 142: II. Impromptu in A-Flat Major 07:00

Frederic Chopin

7 Impromptu No. 2 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 36 05:46

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

8 Impromptu, S. 191 "Nocturne" 03:17

Franz Schubert

9 4 Impromptus D. 935, Op. 142: III. Impromptu in B-Flat Major 11:06

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

10 Fantasy in G , Op. 77 09:40

Frederic Chopin

11 Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Op. 51 06:16

Charles Ives

12 Improvisations for Piano, No. 1 01:03

Franz Schubert

13 4 Impromptus D. 935, Op. 142: IV. Impromptu in F Minor 07:14

PERSONNEL
Shai Wosner, piano