Fantasie: Seven Composers, Seven Keyboards (Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Busoni, Schnittke) - Alexander Melnikov

A lover of historical keyboard instruments, Alexander Melnikov has already successfully met the challenge of exploring ‘Four Pieces, Four Pianos’ on disc and in concert back in 2018. Today, he has chosen to perform seven emblematic works of the fantasia genre on harpsichord, fortepiano, tangent piano, early grands, and so on. In this journey through the keyboards of time, we can discover these pieces as they sounded at the time of their creation, but also grasp the invisible thread that links them to each other.

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor BWV 903
Ré mineur / d-Moll
· Fantasia (6'11)
· Fugue (5'50)
TWO-MANUAL HARPISCHORD BY MARKUS FISCHINGER (BERLIN, 2019), AFTER HANS RUCKERS II (ANTWERP, 1624, REBUILT CA. 1720)

Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH (1714-1788)
Fantasia in F-sharp minor H. 300, Wq. 67
· Fa dièse mineur / fis-Moll (11'18)
TANGENT PIANO (TANGENTENFLÜGEL) BY CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH SCHMAHL (REGENSBURG, 1790), RESTORED BY GEORG OTT

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Fantasia (Fragment) in C minor K. 396
· Do mineur / c-Moll (2'54)
Fantasia (Fragment) in D minor K. 397
· Ré mineur / d-Moll (5'47)
FORTEPIANO BY CHRISTOPH KERN (STAUFEN IM BREISGAU, 2014), AFTER ANTON WALTER (VIENNA, 1795) - ALEXANDER MELNIKOV'S COLLECTION

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Fantasia in F-sharp minor Op. 28
Fa dièse mineur / fis-Moll
· I. Con moto agitato (5'02)
· II. Allegro con moto (2'08)
· III. Presto (5'51)
FORTEPIANO BY ALOIS GRAFF (VIENNA, CA. 1828), RESTORED BY EDWIN BEUNK - ALEXANDER MELNIKOV'S COLLECTION

Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Fantasia in F minor Op. 49
· Fa mineur / f-Moll (11'18)
ÉRARD PIANO (PARIS, CA. 1885), RESTORED BY MARKUS FISCHINGER - ALEXANDER MELNIKOV'S COLLECTION

Ferrucio BUSONI (1866-1924)
Fantasia in modo antico Op. 33b/4
· (extr. 6 Stücke, Op. 33b) (5'51)
BECHSTEIN PIANO, MODEL B (BERLIN, CA. 1905-1910), RESTORED BY CARSTEN SCHULZ

Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)
Improvisation & Fugue Op. 38
· Improvisation (1'47)
· Fugue (4'20)
STEINWAY & SONS PIANO, MODEL D-274 (2014)