44 Waltzes on 88 Keys

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Schubert
Valses Nobles, D.969
C major
A major
C major
G major
C major
C major
E major
A major
A minor
F major
C major
C major
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Brahms
Waltzes, Op.39
B major
E major
G minor
E minor
E major
C major
C minor
B major
D minor
G major
B minor
E major
B major
G minor
A major
C minor
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Dvořák
Waltzes, Op.54
A major
A minor
E major
D major
G minor
F major
D minor
E major
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Ravel
Valses nobles et sentimentales
G major
G minor
E minor
A major
E major
C major
A major
G major
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
The idea for this album came to me in 2012 after I serendipitously found the score to the Dvořák Waltzes in a library. I was immediately attracted to their warmth and humor, and I started learning them. I soon realized that they would go well as a set with waltzes by Schubert and Brahms that I had played many years earlier in my student days. The music to the fourth set, Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, had been lying on my shelf for years, so it was time to finally learn them. I have fond memories of hearing Arthur Rubinstein play them in concert. Ravel’s jazzy modern harmonies make a good foil for the romanticism of the other composers. These four groups were, in a way, a rough history of the piano waltz. Of course, many composers were being left out, most notably Chopin, which led me to record his complete waltzes on my next CD, Chopin: 17 Waltzes.