MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 1

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Many listeners will immediately recognize the opening piece on this disc, To a Wild Rose, one of MacDowell's best inspirations. However, even after a couple of hearings, they'll probably have trouble recognizing the rest of these pieces, none of which has the same kind of inspiration. MacDowell's deeply held belief that American music should copy European models was also his limitation. This music is historically important, but as a listening experience, it has the same effect as second-rate imitations of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. Barbagallo's lovely playing, a fine memorial to this regrettably short-lived artist, makes the music sound better than it really is, and the recorded piano tone is beautiful. --Leslie Gerber

Tracks:

Crisantemi
Carmen: Micaela's Aria
Serendae For Strings In E Major, Op.22: II - Tempo Di Valse
KINDERSZENEN, OP.15: Traumerei: No.7
Two Elegiac Melodies, Op.34: II - The Last Spring
Hassan: Serenade
Fantasia On 'Greensleves'
Londonderry Air
Elegie
Souvenir d'un lieu cher, Op.42: Melodie In E-Flat Major, No. 3
Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo
I Love You
Woodland Sketches, Op.51: To A Wild Rose, No. 1
Henry V: Touch Her Soft Lips And Part: No.2
Pavane For A Dead Princess
Prelude To Irmelin
Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini, Op.43: Variation XVIII: Andante Cantabile

Customer Reviews:

LOVE THIS CD !!!.......2007-03-11

I was looking for a recording of Londonderry Air performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandandy. After listening to several sample clips on this CD, I ordered it. The entire CD is beautiful and relaxing. It's become one of my favorites.

Average customer rating:

Not so bad
Simplicity, clarity, brevity.
AN ENCHANTING PARCEL OF NEGLECTED MACDOWELL

MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Edward Macdowell: Piano Music, Vol. 2
Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 3
Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 4
MacDowell: Piano Concertos
MacDowell: Suites Nos. 1 & 2, Hamlet & Ophelia / Ulster Orchestra, Yuasa

ASIN: B00000DHTE
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Wild Rose
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Will-O'-The-Wisp
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: At An Old Trysting Place
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: In Autumn
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From An Indian Lodge
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Water-Lily
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From Uncle Remus
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: A Deserted Farm
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: By A Meadow Brook
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Told At Sunset
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: To The Sea
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From A Wandering Iceberg
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: A.D. MDCXX
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Starlight
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Song
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From The Depths
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Nautilus
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: In Mid-Ocean
Fireside Tales, Op.61: An Old Love Story
Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Br'er Rabbit
Fireside Tales, Op.61: From A German Forest
Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Salamanders
Fireside Tales, Op.61: A Haunted House
Fireside Tales, Op.61: By Smouldering Embers
New England Idyls, Op. 62: An Old Garden
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Summer
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Winter
New England Idyls, Op. 62: With Sweet Lavender
New England Idyls, Op. 62: In Deep Woods
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Indian Idyl
New England Idyls, Op. 62: To An Old White Pine
New England Idyls, Op. 62: From Puritan Days
New England Idyls, Op. 62: From A Log Cabin
New England Idyls, Op. 62: The Joy Of Autumn

Amazon.com

Many listeners will immediately recognize the opening piece on this disc, To a Wild Rose, one of MacDowell's best inspirations. However, even after a couple of hearings, they'll probably have trouble recognizing the rest of these pieces, none of which has the same kind of inspiration. MacDowell's deeply held belief that American music should copy European models was also his limitation. This music is historically important, but as a listening experience, it has the same effect as second-rate imitations of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. Barbagallo's lovely playing, a fine memorial to this regrettably short-lived artist, makes the music sound better than it really is, and the recorded piano tone is beautiful. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Not so bad.......2006-05-16

The Amazon reviewer (Gerber) is too condescending by half. No sensible listener would rate these pieces as the equal of efforts by the likes of Mozart or Schubert, and Macdowell never claimed they were. They are interesting period pieces, composed with a good deal of charm and skill. It is amusing that Gerber likens them to second-rate versions of the Grieg Lyric Pieces - as if those pieces were worth imitating. Even Macdowell knew better than to copy junk like that.

Simplicity, clarity, brevity........2001-08-17

These vignettes are not bravura performances (such as Chopin, Polonaise in A-flat), but short and brief tellings of a larger story.

The only criticisms I have is that pianist James Barbagallo played, "To a Wild Rose", a bit too fast for my taste, and MacDowell might have written a different, "From a Wandering Iceberg", had he lived to see the Titanic disaster.

AN ENCHANTING PARCEL OF NEGLECTED MACDOWELL.......2000-07-26

A master of the piano vignette, as these pieces aptly and beautifully illustrate, MacDowell (1860-1908) remains, for the most part, remembered solely as the composer of "To A Wild Rose," the first piece in his collection of Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, incomprehensible as it may seem.

MacDowell is a bit of a paradox. Musically schooled in Europe, admired by Liszt, taught by Raff, and having his own viewpoints about composition, nobody typifies, personifies or exemplifies what one might call the "New England School" like MacDowell does. He's rather the Thoreau of New England music, actually, and especially the piano vignette, of which he is a master.

Just look at the titles: Woodland Sketches, Fireside Tales, New England Idyls, Sea Pieces. For me, this music is New England. There's more nostalgia in these four sets than you can shake a stick at! But, you know, in this case, more is better, not less. This music has no whiff of the salon; it's of a particular place in America that calls to our very roots. It has a feel that cannot be accurately described. A mood. An ambience that resonates to the bottom of our consciousness. We become immersed in a dreamy reverie of our collected experiences, nostalgic yearnings, of people, places and things that have gone before... and are no longer. It's that kind of music.

It reminds me of my childhood, of late Autumn days, the smell of burning leaves as Halloween crept nearer, of rainy days, of places lost and found and lost again, walks on the beach at sunset, quiet evenings watching the embers fade in the fireplace, of first loves gone, of lighthouses... of sweet and bittersweet melancholy. That kind of music. The kind of music that one "knows" without ever having heard before, innate within us all, and reaching down to our very fiber. And that is the wonder, beauty and profundity of MacDowell.

[Running time: 63:49]

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Digging Deeper into the MacDowell Catalog
Only part of a wonderful series

Edward Macdowell: Piano Music, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

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Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 3
MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 1
Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 4
MacDowell: Suites Nos. 1 & 2, Hamlet & Ophelia / Ulster Orchestra, Yuasa
MacDowell: Piano Concertos

ASIN: B00000DHTI
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Praeludium: Largamente Con Energia
Presto: Scherzando - Vivace
Andantino Ed Allegretto: Con Tenerezza Serena. Piu Allegretto
Intermezzo: Con Leggerezza E Giocoso
Rhapsodie: In Ritmo Tenebre
Fugue: Allegro Risoluto
Amourette, Op. 1 (Not Fast, With Simplicity)
Capriciously, Yet Not Slow
Not Slow, Liltingly
In The Woods (Lightly, Almost Jauntily)
Siesta (Slowly, Swayingly)
To The Moonlight (With Breadth And Tenderness)
Silver Clouds (Smoothly, Placidly)
Flute Idyl (Lightly, Joyously)
The Bluebell (Lightly, Daintly)
Mesto, Ma Con Passione
Tristamente, Ma Con Tenerezza
Allegro Con Fuoco

Amazon.com

In this second volume of MacDowell piano music, Barbagallo plays the composer's first published works, opp. 1 and 2, which are pleasant salon music. The title of the Modern Suite seems inappropriate even for 1881; it sounds like music Mendelssohn could have written half a century earlier. The "Norse" Sonata is appropriately dedicated to Grieg, who provided most of its inspiration. As in volume 1, the strongest attraction is the committed, colorful playing of the late James Barbagallo, bronze-medallist at the 1982 Tchaikovsky Competition. He plays this music with such obvious dedication and affection that his performances overcome critical reservations about the music itself. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Digging Deeper into the MacDowell Catalog.......2000-06-29

Edward MacDowell is best known for his Piano Concertos and his short solo piece "To a Wild Rose". This collection provides an insight into some of his nearly-forgotten solo piano music, resurrected here by the late James Barbagallo, whose obvious enthusiasm for the music infuses each track with newfound vitality and energy. Recommended at full price...and at six bucks, why not?

Only part of a wonderful series.......1999-07-04

This is only the second volume in what is now a four volume series on Naxos label. The really good news is that these are from the same masters from which came the more expensive Marco Polo sets and here they are at half the price. No matter that our great American composer is more often than not indistinguishable from many European composers of his time. His "Woodland" pieces are marvelous little tone poems and no doubt he had New England scenery in mind when he composed them, regarless of the musical idiom in which he expressed himself. I urge you to collect all four CDs, all the more so because of Barbagallo's symphathy with the music he is playing. It would be a valuable experience to compare the selections on these discs with other Naxos releases that feature the work of more recent composers such as Siegmeister, whose pieces seem more cerebral and less heartfelt than do Macdowell's. But be sure to add these New England inspired pieces to your collection. And at these prices, you cannot afford not to (a cliche, but nevertheless true).

The Maiden's Prayer and Other Gems From an Old Piano Stool

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The Maiden's Prayer and Other Gems From an Old Piano Stool

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Toccatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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The Maiden's Prayer: Leaves from Grandmother's Piano Album

ASIN: B00008ZZ3G
Release Date: 2003-07-08

The World's Most Beautiful Melodies, Vol. 5

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The World's Most Beautiful Melodies, Vol. 5

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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More of the World's Most Beautiful Melodies
World's Most Beautiful Melodies, Vol. 1
Empire Of The Sun: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

ASIN: B000000A7M
Release Date: 1994-09-20

Tracks:

Meditation
Salut D'Amour
Suo Gan
Beau Soir
La Calinda
Pavane
I'll Walk Beside You
Clair De Lune
Exotica
On Wings Of Song
Largo 'Ombra Mai Fu'
Eriskay Love Lilt
Vissi D'Arte
To A Wild Rose
Sheep May Safely Graze
Adagio
Czardas

Pablo Casals: The Complete Acoustic Recordings Vol. 3: 1920 - 25

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Pablo Casals: The Complete Acoustic Recordings Vol. 3: 1920 - 25

Manufacturer: Biddulph Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Kathleen Mavourneen - Pablo Casals
Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms - Pablo Casals
Gavotte in D (Op.23) - Romano Romani
Salut D'amour - Romano Romani
Would God I Were The Tender Apple Blossom - Romano Romani
Romance in E flat
Ser Napoletana
To A Wild Rose
Oh, Dry Those Tears
Kol Nidre - Edouard Gendron
Op.20 No.1: Melodie Arabe - Edouard Gendron
Con in D: Adagio
Op.67 No.6: Ser
Sapphische Ode
Minuet
Melodie
Op.37 No.10: Autumn Song
Op.20 No.18: Berceuse
Adagio - Edouard Gendron
Goyescas: Intermezzo - Edouard Gendron

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Great sound, wonderful performances
A Must-Have for Cello Lovers

Encores and Transcriptions, Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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Encores and Transcriptions, Vol. 2
Schumann: Piano Concerto in Am Op54; Chopin: Concerto for piano in Fm

ASIN: B00008IHVO
Release Date: 2003-04-15

Customer Reviews:

Great sound, wonderful performances.......2004-12-20

The sound is quite good on this CD, considering when the recordings were made. The resoration was done well.

This is Casals playing some wonderful selections, so much more need not be said. The Kol Nidrei is especially good, and worth the very low price of this CD alone.

A Must-Have for Cello Lovers.......2003-05-12

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) is generally credited with having invented modern cello technique; further, he was easily the most famous solo cellist of the first half of the 20th century, with good reason. He had everything including flawless technique, impeccable musicianship, and a magnetic personality. His subtly varied vibrato, razor sharp attacks and intonation, musicianly phrasing and rhythmic verve make him instantly recognizable.

This CD is the first of two scheduled by Naxos to present encores and transcriptions; all on this disc date from the very earliest period of electrical recordings, those using an electrical microphone rather than the old recording horn technique. Made in the US for Victor and His Master's Voice, they are presented here in the order in which they were recorded, the first from within weeks after the electrical technique began being used in early 1925, a performance of the famous Hungarian cellist/composer David Popper's infectious 'Chanson villageois.' Since Amazon has not listed the CD's contents I will do so:

Hillemacher: Gavotte tendre
MacDowell: Romance, Op. 35
Debussy: Menuet, from the Petite Suite
Schubert: Moment musical, Op. 94
Schumann: Träumerei
Schumann: Abendlied, Op. 85, No. 12 (from a piano duet, not the famous song of the same name)
Fauré: Après un rêve
Wagner: Evening Star, from Tannhäuser
Wagner: Prize Song, from Die Meistersinger
Chopin: 'Raindrop' Prélude, Op. 28, No. 15
Chopin: Nocturne in E flat, Op. 9, No. 2
Godard: Berceuse, from Jocelyn
A. Rubinstein: Melody in F
Bach: Adagio, from Toccata in C major, BWV 564
Granados: Intermezzo, from Goyescas
Popper: Vito (Spanish Dance, Op. 54, No. 5)
Saint-Saëns: The Swan, from Carnival of the Animals
Bruch: Kol Nidrei

All are accompanied by Nikolai Mednikoff, piano, except the first band which is with Edouard Gendron, piano.

This disc is, of course, self-recommending to anyone who is interested in this marvelous cellist and this repertoire. The sound, restored from 78s by the formidably talented Mark Obert-Thorn, is spectacularly good. There is very little surface noise except on the very first, and oldest, recording.

Highly recommended.