{"id":39571,"date":"2024-02-29T18:29:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/55ca6890-39e7-4c48-b4f5-edb640524999"},"modified":"2024-02-29T18:39:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:39:57","slug":"la-danse","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/la-danse\/","title":{"rendered":"La Danse"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Rebecca Franks\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 17:29 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Works by Couperin, Debussy, Ravel, Rameau, Hahn<\/p>

Martin James Bartlett (piano)<\/p>

Warner Classics 5419789680\u00a0\u00a0 60:10 mins<\/em><\/p>

In his own words, Martin James Bartlett is \u2018rather awful at dancing\u2019, but that hasn\u2019t put him off lacing up his dance shoes and gathering a troupe of French composers for this album. And whether or not he\u2019s any great shakes on the dancefloor, he\u2019s certainly at home conjuring up Baroque<\/a><\/strong> gavottes<\/a><\/strong> and ghostly waltzes on the keyboard.<\/p>

Not that this is uniformly the most toe-tapping dance-inspired piano album I\u2019ve ever heard, though it is a lovely programme, built around Ravel<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s neo-classical Le tombeau de Couperin<\/em> and the transcription of the cataclysmic La valse<\/em>. There\u2019s much rewarding playing; Bartlett is a highly expressive musician. If his Romantic Rameau<\/a><\/strong> remains rather earthbound, his Couperin flickers with a cosy firelight warmth. His two Hahn<\/a><\/strong> miniatures are deliciously bittersweet and whirlingly joyful, while Debussy<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Arabesque No. 1 slips by like liquid sunshine.<\/p>

Bartlett enjoys a good rubato<\/a><\/strong>, and how you feel about that is possibly a matter of taste. At times, the pulling back is almost imperceptible and the effect magical (in the early stretches of the Pr\u00e9lude<\/em> from Le tombeau<\/em>). At others, it feels superfluous \u2013 in that same piece, he twins a crescendo with a drawing out of the tempo far less convincingly. After the chaste lines of the Fugato<\/em>, the enigmatic lilt of the Forlane<\/em> sags. The Rigaudon<\/em> peps up matters with hearty and nimble fingerwork, while the silvery Toccata<\/em> sparkles.<\/p>

La valse<\/em> is all rumbling menace in Bartlett\u2019s hands, packed with punchy bass chords and roaring glissandos. His vision of the piece is rather choppy, but it\u2019s often exciting nonetheless. Some pianists, such as Angela Hewitt, make the piano dance; others, like Bartlett, make it sing. Rebecca Franks<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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By Rebecca Franks Published: Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 17:29 PM Works by Couperin, Debussy, Ravel, Rameau, Hahn Martin James Bartlett (piano) Warner Classics 5419789680\u00a0\u00a0 60:10 mins In his own words, Martin James Bartlett is \u2018rather awful at dancing\u2019, but that hasn\u2019t put him off lacing up his dance shoes and gathering a troupe of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39572,"template":"","categories":[1,84,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse.jpg",900,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse.jpg",900,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/la-danse.jpg",900,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rebecca Franks Published: Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 17:29 PM Works by Couperin, Debussy, Ravel, Rameau, Hahn Martin James Bartlett (piano) Warner Classics 5419789680\u00a0\u00a0 60:10 mins In his own words, Martin James Bartlett is \u2018rather awful at dancing\u2019, but that hasn\u2019t put him off lacing up his dance shoes and gathering a troupe of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}