Reynaldo - Naxos Music Library

Reynaldo Hahn’s piano music
Nothing is as effective as the relentless accumulation of clichés to dull an artist’s reputation:
for his entire life, Reynaldo Hahn was labeled as a composer of salon music, a lightweight,
whose compositions were written to satisfy the academic tastes of social circles in the Belle
Époque and during the period between the two wars. Luckily however, in recent years, a
handful of performers and publishers have allowed us to discover the incredible diversity of
his eclectic and enchanting work. While not widely known, his piano music is perhaps one of
the most original aspects of his talent. The outstanding recordings presented in this boxed set
of four CDs should help in banishing those long held prejudices.
The youngest child of a large, wealthy and highly accomplished family, Reynaldo was born
in Caracas in 1874. He was three years old when his family moved from Venezuela to Paris.
A prodigy, his entire family worked to make the most of his multiple talents, fostering the
development of his extraordinary musical sensitivity and creativity. Admitted to the Paris
Conservatory, he was able to acquire a solid musical education without which he would have
been nothing but a dilettante. From the age of eleven he had become part of Massenet’s
composition class and thanks to the Maestro’s support he was able to publish his first
compositions and appear in public. In 1898, the Opéra-Comique staged his L’Île du rêve”
according to Pierre Loti. In social circles Reynaldo had been equally precocious, having made
his debut in Princess Mathilde’s famous salon at the age of six. His intelligence, wit and talent
enabled him to captivate all of Paris’s beau-monde. He approached all of his activities with
the same impassioned fervor: composer, singer, conductor, critic, and lecturer. Over the years,
an untiring Reynaldo Hahn established himself as one of the most prominent figures in the
public eye. All of the important cities in Europe vied for this witty man whose music embodied
French elegance and charm so well.
Since early childhood, the piano was part of Hahn’s family life. His earliest composition to
have left a trace is a waltz for piano and has a revealing title: L’Inspiration (CD 3 - tr. 13).
His predilection for waltzes profoundly marked his development as a composer from his
piano compositions through to his musical comedies (Ciboulette, Une Revue…) without