Repertoire: John Field Invents the Piano Nocturne!

John Field: Nocturnes, Piano Sonatas, Piano Concertos. Benjamin Frith (piano), Northern Sinfonia, David Haslam (cond.) Naxos

[DennisKretzschmar-hl]

I got this box from a clearance sale quite recently. It is indeed very enjoyable and accessible music. Fun stuff and worth picking up as a boxed up set!

[franz-josefknelangen]

I like Micael O'Rourke most, but, as others mentioned, thank you for bringing John Field to the attention of nearly 20.000 (wow!) subscribers. And, about Beethoven, there is his very beethovenish quote: "Alles ist Scheiß=Dreck gegen Field!" (Compared to Field, every thing else is shit). There is a very good novel dealing with Field by the German Wolfgang Schlüter, "John Field und die Himmels-Electricität". AFAIK, only German, has not been translated.

[davidwaddell]

The million dollar question: can you hear the tam-tam crash in the 5th concerto?? If you didn't specifically mention this pioneering tam-tam moment in the video (the concerto was written around 1815), I fear you probably can't! In the Chandos recording with O'Rourke and Bamert, you most definitely can! BTW, absolutely love the one you're sitting in front of.

[charlespowell]

Besides O'Rourke on Chandos, I recommend John O'Conor on Telarc if you can find it.

[JAMESLEVEE]

Field added orchestral accompaniments to a couple of his nocturnes for concerto slow movements. Some of them, such as the 4th have fully formed slow movements.

[robkeeleycomposer]

Another huge influence on Field is surely Bellini. Take away the words from 'Casta diva' (for example) you have John Field. The Rondo for the Eb Sonata op 1 is an absolute (and very Irish) delight.