Reynaldo Hahn

Juvenilia et Autres Pièces

The unacquainted listener, upon hearing a piece from the Hahn piano repertoire, is often surprised by its powerful charm - a testament to the composer's unique musical sensibility. Although some of Hahn's musical ideas have roots in the long tradition of Romanticism, they also present a host of new images, scarcely seen in earlier scores Each piece in this collection is based on a single formula that varies little from start to finish. An exception to this unique principle occurs in the IInd piece, where the young woman takes fright at the 'flaming red eye of the setting sun watching her through the branches'. As a conclusion, Reynaldo Hahn offers a'very free' cadence that takes up and comments on the initial theme: the crackling notes culminate in a fortissimo blaze, rapidly followed by a progressive lull that slowly fades away.