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Mahan Esfahani

Time Present and Time Past

Archiv Music

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Mahan Esfahani - Time Present And Time Past (French Trailer)
Wigmore Hall presents Mahan Esfahani
1 Scarlatti - Variations on 'La Follia'  
2 Gorecki - Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 40: i. Allegro molto  
3 Gorecki - Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 40: ii Vivace  
4 Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach - 12 Variations on ?La Folia d'Espagne in D minor, Wq. 188 , No. 9  
5 Geminiani - Concerto Grosso in D minor  
6 Reich - Piano Phase For Two Pianos  
7 Bach - Harpischord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: i. Allegro  
8 Bach - Harpischord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: ii. Adagio  
9 Bach - Harpischord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: iii. Allegro  
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Minimalism meets Baroque with Mahan Esfahani's new recording on Deutsche Grammophon/Archiv Produktion, Time Present and Time Past

He's a brilliant player - two days after this recital I'm still tingling over his forensic attack and silk-smooth arpeggios - but he also knows about friendly presentation… Dashingly eloquent, dizzyingly skilled, Esfahani makes the harpsichord seem an instrument reborn." (The Times)

On Time Present and Time Past, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani brings together Baroque music and minimalism-two forms of music one might not utter in the same breath, but that share a certain DNA-on this daring new album.

Of the project, Esfahani says "As I started to understand the great possibilities of minimalist style, my mind began to make connections to the same techniques-specifically the manipulation of patterns and "cells" of material-as practiced by composers of the 17th and 18th centuries."

On Time Present and Time Past, he performs pieces that exemplify Baroque and minimalism and explores the relationship between two musical genres that are 300 years apart.

He performs all the works on period instruments –par for the course with the works of Bach, Handel and Geminiani-but groundbreaking when applied to Steve Reich's Piano Phase, which Esfahani performs on harpsichord and overdubs himself.

Also featured is Henryk Gorecki's electrifying Harpsichord Concerto, Op. 40 (1980) where is joined by the Concerto Köln, and works by Scarlatti and CPE Bach. By re-contextualizing minimalist music in the Baroque period, the listener is forced to reconsider the relationship between them, and reconsider time past and time present.

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