Medtnaculus's video: Maurice Emmanuel Piano Sonatine No 6 Op 23

Maurice Emmanuel (1862 - 1938), Piano Sonatine No. 6, Op. 23 Performed by Peter Jacobs 00:00 - No. 1 Scherzando 02:44 - No. 2 Adagio 05:39 - No. 3 Presto con fuoco An exact contemporary of Claude Debussy, he was right from the outset an authentic creator of the avant-garde. It is barely believable that the first two sonatinas date from 1893 and 1897, so in advance are they of their day — more so in fact that what Debussy was producing — with regard to harmony, free polymodality, the emancipation of dissonance, boldness in the rhythmic and instrumental language, formal fantasy, with rigour being in no way excluded. They were, moreover, not published and played until after 1920, when the others were being composed, and with which they form a genuine whole. It is significant that Maurice Emmanuel did not follow Debussy in his ultimate evolution, the results of which he hardly appreciated, following instead his own path, one that was in fact no less radical and complex. It is time, however, to start our examination of these Six Sonatinas that are so many masterpieces. Yvonne Lefébure was the dedicatee of the Sixth Sonatina (op. 23), the shortest of the series, though it is particularly colourful and of great technical difficulty. While its three movements, a Scherzando in 6/8, a boldly written Adagio in 3/4, and a sparkling Toccata in 2/4 (Presto con fuoco) are in ‘official’ tonalities (A major for the outer movements, F major for the Adagio), Emmanuel’s language was never more liberated, more elliptical, more subtle or more radiantly youthful. Within seven short minutes everything is said, and a piece like this deserves the epithet that appears in the dedication by Webern of the Bagatelles op. 9 to his teacher Schönberg: “Non multa, sed multum” (‘not a lot, but much’): nothing but the pith and the marrow. Like its sister pieces, this ultimate sonatina deserves to become a classic, and in the hands of performers worthy of rising to their challenges, these sonatinas are today unquestionably classics.