Category Archives: News

Muse Press is really pleased to announce that we have just opened a pre-order of the Cadenza to Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Vincenzo Maltempo. The composer is considered one of the most talented Italian pianists of his generation, and he has been recognized as a great interpreter of the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan. Especially, it is notable that he performed the complete set of Alkan’s Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs, Op. 39 in one night(!) in Japan, 2013. His repertoire goes all the way from the baroque to the contemporary music, particularly the romantic music is his specialty. Recently he recorded piano sonatas by Glazunov, Kosenko for PIANO CLASSICS.

Liszt composed his 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody in 1847, the most famous of all the 19 ones. Around the end of the piece, the composer gives a special invitation for pianists to perform their own cadenza (he write “cadenza ad libitum”). Definitely, Mr. Maltempo accepts the invitation. He recorded the piece with his cadenza for the album of the complete Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies issued by PIANO CLASSICS, and he also performed many times in his recitals. The cadenza is witty and improvisational, reflecting the fragments of the original melody. We hope you will enjoy this fantastic cadenza.

The price is 1,500 yen (1,389 yen VAT excluded). Click here for the pre-order. The score will be out on the mid-March, 2018. postponed to early April with another publication of Wagner/Maltempo’s Prelude from “Tristan und Isolde”. Thank you for your patient.

Vincenzo Maltempo’s profile

Vincenzo Maltempo is artistic personality finds an important place in the contemporary wide and diversified music scene after his massive recordings and recitals dedicated to Charles-Valentin Alkan of which he is considered one of the most authoritative interpreter and connoisseur in the world. Since 2009, in fact, he recorded the most important Alkan works for the English label ‘Piano Classics’; this considerable work has attracted the attention of the most renowned international magazines such as Diapason, The Guardian, PianoNews, Gramophone and others where his recordings get the coveted ’5 Stars’. He recorded and played Alkan’s most important works and he is one of the very few interpreters who played the whole set of the “Douze études dans toutes les tons mineurs” Op. 39 in one single recital (Yokohama, November 2013). As a result of his continuous work of rediscovering and promoting the forgotten Alkan music, he was awarded with the honorary membership of the “Alkan Society” in London. In fact his discography, besides to Alkan, can count many other recordings dedicated to Franz Liszt (“Klavierwerke”, Gramola, 2009, and the Complete Hungarian Rhapsodies, prized by Gramophone as “Editor’s Choice” in February 2017 and defined “the finest I’ve ever heard” by P. Ruckert in his review on the same magazine), to Robert Schumann (Piano Classics 2014), to the music for Violin and Piano by Michele Esposito with the violinist Carmelo Andriani (Brilliant Classics 2014) and to S. Lyapunov, with an important recording of his “12 Études d’exécution transcendante, Op. 11” (Piano Classics 2017). All of them are prized with the highest awards from the international press. His international career sees him performing in the most important Festivals and theaters in Europe (Venice “La Fenice”, Cagliari “Teatro Lirico”, Spoleto “Festival dei due Mondi”, Liszt Festival in Raiding, the “Raritäten der Klaviermusik” in Husum etc), America (Miami “International Piano Festival” etc), Mexico (“Festival Internacional de Piano en Blanco y Negro”), Asia. He regularly hold Masterclasses and he is invited as jury member in National and International Competitions. His musical journey, began in a very early age spontaneously in his family, is heavily influenced by Salvatore Orlando which is pianist and teacher, pupil of Sergio Fiorentino and after continues with Riccardo Risaliti at the International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola. He lives in his birthplace, Benevento. He currently teaches at the Conservatory “Gesualdo da Venosa”, in Potenza, Italy.

http://www.vincenzomaltempo.com/

His own cadenza starts at 9:15.

“The Moldau”, transcription for piano by Kotaro Fukuma, was released and mail order was launched today on this site. You can purchase it from the shop page of the header menu. 2,000 yen for 1 copy (currency will be daily changed). We also sell 60 set limited edition, containing Fukuma Kotaro concert brochure (English), so please purchase as soon as possible. Shipping is scheduled from the 9th of January.

Payment method

• Credit Cards（VISA/Master/American Express）with stripe payment gateway
• PayPal (will be available in the mid of January)

Shipping method

• EMS (most rapid method)
• Air Mail (standard method)
• SAL (less expensive, usually it takes 2 weeks or so)
• e-packet light (traceable, as rapid as SAL, but only ship to limited country)

We are very happy to announce our first publication: The Moldau (Smetana) transcribed by the Japanese pianist Kotaro Fukuma who is one of the most prominent pianists of his generation.

This transcription is recorded in the album «Sing to water» (Esprit du Piano) in 2015 which he performed it many times in his concerts. Since the pianist never wrote it down, Shota Ezaki who is one of the co-founders of Muse Press tried to write it down from his recording. And Mr. Fukuma revised the score, and added some ossias in order to make the definitive edition. The score is contained in 32 pages of which 26 pages are for the transcription, featuring fully orchestral sounds of one of the most famous works in the history of music, and at the same, showing a mastery writing of pianistic dynamics.

The transcription will maximize the possibility of piano, demonstrate how the piano can illustrate several expressions of sounds.

We will launch a pre-sales of the score in Mr. Fukoma’s recitals in this December 2017. The score will be available to the general public for purchase from the January 2018. The price is 2,000 yen (1,852 yen VAT excluded). We will create a reservation form as soon as possible.

Profile (English)

photo by Takuji Shimmura

Born in Tokyo, Kotaro Fukuma has received many high awards in international competitions. At the age of 20, Kotaro won both First Prize and the Chopin Prize at the 15th Cleveland International Piano Competition. Since then his concert career has developed on five continents.

Kotaro has performed solo in major concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Salle Gaveau, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall and Suntory Hall. His performances with orchestras include the Cleveland Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Toulouse National Capitole Orchestra, Lille National Orchestra, Galicia Royal Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Kotaro Fukuma has released commercial CDs from Naxos, ARS Produktion, Éditio ns Hortus, Orpheus Classical, DENON and Accustika. Fukuma’s transcription of the Moldau is available on his album “Sing to Water” (Esprit du Piano).

www.kotarofukuma.com