Gottschalk: American Piano Music

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Born in New Orleans, Gottschalk (1829-1869) composed piano works that drew on elements of Creole, African American, French, Caribbean, and Southern U.S. culture. He was the first American to earn international acclaim as a pianist-composer. Performed by renowned pianist Amiram Rigai, the selections encompass a variety of styles and reveal the breathtaking scope of Gottschalk's work. This remastered 70-minute recording is indispensable for those interested in American classical music. "Exotic, innovative compositions are performed with panache by a world-renowned pianist." -Billboard

Tracks:

Andante - Hot Springs Festival Symphony Orchestra
Presto-Maestoso - Hot Springs Festival Symphony Orchestra
Tempo Di Tarentelle - Michael Gurt
Tempo De Danza: Moderato - Darryl Taylor
Piu Lento - Darryl Taylor
Danza - Darryl Taylor
Tempo De Danza: Moderato - Darryl Taylor
Variations De Concert Sur L'hymne Portugais Du Roi Louis I, RO289 - Michael Gurt
Ave Maria, RO10 - Melissa Barrick
La Casa Del Joven Enrique Por Mehul-Gran Overture, RO54b - Richard Contiguglia
I. Noche En Los Tropicos - Hot Springs Festival Symphony Orchestra
II. Festa Criolla - Hot Springs Festival Symphony Orchestra

Average customer rating:

Beautiful, beautiful music!
A very powerful performance
Shock treatment
Doesn't quite make it
An exuberant blazing Gottchalk interpretation

Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Piano Music

Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Galops | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Mazurkas | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Ballads | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics
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Piano Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk: 26 Complete Pieces from Original Editions
American Piano Classics

ASIN: B00008OP1W
Release Date: 2003-05-20

Tracks:

Le Banjo, Fantaisie Grotesque, Op. 15
Bamboula, Danse De Negres, Op. 2
Le Bananier, Chanson Negre, Op. 5
La Savane, Ballade Creole, Op. 3
Tremolo, Grande Etude De Concert, Op. 58
La Jota Aragonesa, Caprice Espagnol, Op. 14
Manchega, Etude De Concert, Op. 38
Souvenirs D'Andalousie, Caprice De Concert Sur La Cana, Op. 22
Souvenir De Porto Rico, Marche Des Gibaros, Op. 31
L'etincelle, La Scintilla, Op. 20
La Gallina, Op. 53
Suis-moi!, Caprice, Op. 45
Pasquinade, Caprice, Op. 59
Tournament Galop
The Dying Poet, Meditation
The Union, Paraphrase De Concert On The National Airs Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, And Hail Columbia, Op. 48

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful, beautiful music!.......2007-07-07

Listening to this Gottschalk CD hs been a truly rewarding experience. We listen to it everyday, so I'm sure we will be purchasing more of his music.

A very powerful performance.......2006-12-15

June 7, 2003
This is a very powerful performance by Licad, the first in a long
while. I had a chance to compare her recording with an earlier
recording of Gottschalk's piano works by another (relatively unknown)
pianist, and I must say that the latter recording pales miserably
in comparison to Licad's. Listening to Licad play in this recording,
I can't help but be reminded of Vladimir Horowitz's piano performances
during his heyday. Licad and Horowitz have very similar touch, intensity,
technical prowess and dynamic range. There are 16 piano works works in
this recording, and I must say that all are top caliber performances,
with the possible exception of track #9, Souvenirs de Porto Rico,
Marche de Gibaros, Op.31, where Licad seems to have missed a few
notes and desynchronized the rhythm in a few places. My favorites
are tracks #5 (Tremolo, Grande Etude de Concert), #7 (Manchega,
Etude de Concert), and track #14 (Tournament Galop); in the last
one, you can almost see and hear the horses galloping around the
race track. With the price ... this recording is a genuine steal.
However, I am still waiting to hear Licad play a Liszt, Brahms,
Prokofoiev or Bartok, where I believe we can really hear Horowitz
come alive.

Shock treatment.......2005-04-11

There are plenty of other pianists who have played Gottschalk's music. These include Eugene List, Alan Mandel, John Arpin, Alan Marks, Philip Martin, and my favorite, Michael Lewin.

This disc has a very good selection of Gottschalk's music. Still, I do not always like Licad's interpretations of his works. Nor is her playing especially clean.

Le banjo, an excellent piece, is played too fast. Give this lady a speeding ticket! Bamboula is played unusually slowly, and there are even a couple of presumably intentional minor errors in rhythm in it. I think it is okay to play parts of it slowly, as Licad did, for dramatic effect, but I am not overly impressed by her performance of it.

When we reach another fine piece, La Savane, the intentional errors in rhythm get worse. I have never heard La Savane played like this before, and I don't like it.

Next is Tremolo. I think Licad does a fine job on this one, both technically and interpretively. And I also like her interpretations of Manchega and The Dying Poet.

Souvenir de Porto Rico is perhaps Gottschalk's best work, and it is technically very difficult. This would have been a great opportunity for Licad to show that she can handle the task. But she chose to do otherwise. It is disappointing.

Most of this disc is simply not Gottschalk as it ought to be played. If someone unfamiliar with Gottschalk wanted to listen to a CD with some of Gottschalk's best works on it, I'd normally recommend one with this set of pieces. But I certainly wouldn't recommend this. I'll give it two stars just for Tremolo, and one more for shock value.

Doesn't quite make it.......2003-11-11

Cecile Licad is a fine pianist, but she's not right for this. Maybe she's trying to put too much "Artistry" into these instead of virtuosic fire, although perversely she plays some pieces too fast. This is still quite nice, considering the low price, but don't throw away your old Leonard Pennario LP's.

An exuberant blazing Gottchalk interpretation.......2003-09-19

Ms. Licad's Gottchalk interpretations on her latest CD is a pioneering effort in presenting the essential Gottchalk. She could have opted for the "safe and traditional " molded from other previous interpretations. But on this CD, she has opened a whole new world about the possibilities of Gottchalk's music who typifies the wondrous cultural influences here in the United States. Her performance is riveting, exuberant, blazing,virtuosic and always with a keen individual musicality that manages to always pay homage to what is essentially Gottchalk's. That is a feat in itself. I highly recommend this CD which should be CD of the Year.
Noel

Average customer rating:

Anderson Piano Concerto Tuneful and Upbeat
Superb Anderson
So Lovely, So Listenable, So Anderson
Full-Length Anderson

American Piano Classics

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite; Gershwin: Porgy & Bess Symphonic Suite "Catfish Row"
George Gershwin: The Complete Orchestra Collection
Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Piano Music
The Leroy Anderson Collection
Goldilocks (1958 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B000003CTL
Release Date: 1993-01-26

Tracks:

I. Allegro Moderato
II. Andante
III. Allegro Vivo
Second Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra
Grand Tarantelle
12th Street Rag
The Entertainer
Solace
Maple Leaf Rag
I. With Drive and Vigor
II. Gavotte: Gaily, Moderate Bounce Tempo
III. Blues: Slow and Relaxed
IV. Very Fast, With Verve and Gusto

Customer Reviews:

Anderson Piano Concerto Tuneful and Upbeat.......2003-04-07

I enjoyed the Anderson Piano Concerto. It is tuneful and upbeat. It has its moments of technical prowess, but I thought the pianist hit a lot of wrong notes which upon repeat listening, causes annoyance.
I would like to hear another recording with a better pianist, or at least one that is edited. It is too good a concerto to get this rendering.

Superb Anderson.......2003-03-08

I also bought this album for the Anderson Concerto, and was delighted with both it and the other selections on this disc.

Superb!!!

So Lovely, So Listenable, So Anderson.......2003-01-20

I bought this CD for the Leroy Anderson Concerto, and I was not disappointed. In the several months since, I have enjoyed it many times over. Though Leroy Anderson was known mostly for his sprightly and imaginative little pieces such as Syncopated Clock and The Typewriter, he was certainly capable of writing a beautiful theme or two, and of good musical composition and great orchestration, and it all shows in this piece. What a talented man, and what a great addition this concerto is to American music. The rest of the CD is also very listenable. Altogether, it's a worthy purchase.

Full-Length Anderson.......2001-04-10

The featured selection on this CD is the premier recording of Leroy Anderson's piano concerto. It is the reason to acquire the CD, as the other selections are fairly familiar and are available on numerous recordings.

Tracks:

Grande Tarantelle For Piano & Orchestra
Symphony No. 2 'A Montevido'
'The Union' Concert Paraphrase On National Airs
Marche Solennelle
Radieuse, Grande Valse De Concert
Ses Yeux, Polka De Concert
La Gallina, Danse Cubaine
Ojos Criollos, Danse Cubaine
Pasqinade, Caprice

Tracks:

Grande Fantaisie Triomphale Sur L'Hymne National Bresilien, Op. 69
Marcha Triunfal Y Final De Opera, For Orchestra & Band (RO 157)
Symphony No. I 'La Nuit Des Tropiques' (RO 157)
Variations On The Portuguese National Hymn For Piano & Orchestra (RO 289)
Track 5
Escenas Campestres (Cuban Country Scenes) Opera (RO 77)

Amazon.com

Despite the value revisionists pretend to find in MacDowell and his contemporaries, the only really interesting 19th century American composer is the Creole Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who conquered Europe and South America with his colorful music and extravaganza piano performances. These recordings aren't new, and they don't include any of his solo piano music. But they do include some of Gottschalk's most characteristic music, in performances and recordings that are at least fairly good. It's a lot of fun for the money, and the accompanying booklet does a very good job of telling you what is interesting about Gottschalk's life and music. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Gotschalk Festival.......2007-02-19

This CD had a piece that I was looking for everywhere that my father, a classical music connoisseur had been wanting for some time. When he received this CD as a gift, he was very pleased with the selection.

Very good performances of Gottschalk's works.......2005-04-13

The United States has produced very few great composers of anything that might be called classical music. Who was the best of them? While there have been many American composers, including MacDowell, Joplin, Rodgers, Copland, Gershwin, Sousa, Anderson, and Bernstein, well, how many were truly great?

My choice for the best of them is Gottschalk. And these discs give one a good idea of what he composed. A couple of "symphonies," some piano duets, some marches, a one-act opera. Yes, there are bombastic patriotic marches. And some precursors to ragtime. And plenty of what sounds like modern program music. Maybe my favorite of the orchestral works is "La Nuit des Tropiques." Now, is this performance as good as the ones by the Utah Symphony with Abravanel? Some folks think Abravanel's best one is better, but you may not be able to find it so easily. And I prefer this one.

Gottschalk's many solo piano compositions may be his best works, and they aren't included. But I still like these discs and performances.

An essential American composer.......2002-05-24

When I bought my first component stereo system some 30 years ago, Gottschalk was one record I took along to test the sound. Gottschalk remains as enjoyable now, but this cd would never be my test case of a stereo. The performance and recording are adequate but they lack the vitality one can find in other recordings. However, except for the lack of solo piano pieces, the album has a nice selection of Gottschalk's work and it's inexpensive. The last track on disc 1, Pasquinade, Caprice is probably his best known piece - a good introduction to his work.

Gottschalk's music is decidedly American - he grew up in New Orleans at the height of Creole culture. His father was of Spanish Jewish descent, his mother was French. However, Gottschalk began training in France at the age of 13. Thus he was very familiar with the European music of his era (1829-1869); in many ways, his music serves as a bridge between the European and American piano traditions - Scott Joplin being an example of the trajectory of American piano music. Depending upon your taste you may consider his music as classical, as salon orchestra music, as early decidedly American multi-cultural music or as just plain enjoyable fun.

My two cents.......2001-04-02

This is not a terrible album, but I do find it wanting. My greatest complaint is with the quality of the recordings and the CD's themselves (scratched too easily). My copy also has some misprints on the cover (the pieces are not listed in the correct order- if you didn't know any better you might think that you were listening to an arrangement of the Pourtuguese national anthem instead of "A Night in the Tropics"!). However, it is inexpensive (it is a 2 CD set) and worth it to those who are giving Gottschalk a first try. It also has an interesting and informative booklet on Gottschalk and the pieces featured (unfortunately I am not enough of an expert to verify their acuracy).

There are better performances.......1999-06-06

This album will disappoint Gottschalk fans. A better version of Night in the Tropics is the Maurice Abravanel & Utah Symphony. Only buy this one if you've already heard the Abravanel and want to know what it sounds like mangled by Europeans.

Average customer rating:

An old favorite of mine updated

Gottschalk: American Piano Music

Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Galops | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Mazurkas | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Ballads | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Lullabies & Berceuse | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Piano Music
Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics
Piano Music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk: 26 Complete Pieces from Original Editions
A Gottschalk Festival
Bamboula: Piano Music

ASIN: B000001DM1
Release Date: 1995-02-08

Tracks:

The Banjo, Opus 15 (Fantasie grotesque)
La Scintilla: Mazurka, Opus 20 (The Spark)
Ojos Criollos, Opus 37 (Les yeux creoles Or Danse cubaine)
March Funebre, Opus 64 (Posthumous)
Bamboula, Opus 2 (Danse des negres)
Souvenir de Porto Rico, Opus 31 (Marche des Gibaros)
The Dying Poet (Le poete mourant; meditation)
Le Bananier, Opus 5 (Chanson negre)
Pasquinade, Opus 59 (Caprice) Arranged By Amiram Rigai
Berceuse, Opus 47 (Cradle Song)
Tournament Galop
Ossian Ballade, Opus 4 #1
Serenade, Opus 11
Morte, Opus 60 (Lamentation: She Is Dead)
Danza, Opus 33 (Porto Rico, November 1857)
Minuit a Seville, Opus 30 (Caprice)
La gallina, Opus 53 (The Hen: Danse cubaine)

Album Description

Born in New Orleans, Gottschalk (1829-1869) composed piano works that drew on elements of Creole, African American, French, Caribbean, and Southern U.S. culture. He was the first American to earn international acclaim as a pianist-composer. Performed by renowned pianist Amiram Rigai, the selections encompass a variety of styles and reveal the breathtaking scope of Gottschalk's work. This remastered 70-minute recording is indispensable for those interested in American classical music. "Exotic, innovative compositions are performed with panache by a world-renowned pianist." -Billboard

Customer Reviews:

An old favorite of mine updated.......2007-07-08

Gottschalk wrote a lot of very pleasing and colorful if not very deep piano music. Deep has its place, but not every moment is a Bach organ moment, and this is wonderful music when you want to relax to something light. Gottschalk drew on African American and American Folk influences as well as his formal training in Paris to produce a new sound for the mid nineteenth century. Not really classical, but not yet with the structure or sophistication of the later rag and jazz, it's really just Gottschalk. I first encountered Amiram Rigai playing this music years ago on a Musical Heritage Society cassette. A lot of pianists have done credible recordings of Gottschalk, but to me this is how his pieces should sound. This is a terrific CD.

Average customer rating:

The Boston Pops & Arthur Fiedler
A ballet of marches
Stars and Stripes
Yes, it's really ballet music - a la Balanchine

Stars & Stripes

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Adam - Giselle (complete ballet) ~ Offenbach - Gaîté Parisienne ~ Strauss Graduation Ball / Fistoulari, Dorati
Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics

ASIN: B000003FEH
Release Date: 1993-05-11

Tracks:

Stars and Stripes: First Campaign
Stars and Stripes: Second Campaign
Stars and Stripes: Third Campaign
Stars and Stripes: Fourth Campaign
Stars and Stripes: Fifth Campaign - Variation I
Stars and Stripes: Fifth Campaign - Variation II
Stars and Stripes: Fifth Campaign - Coda: Allegro molto
Stars and Stripes: Fifth Campaign - Finale: The Stars and Stripes Forever
Cakewalk: Suite: Grand Walkaround
Cakewalk: Suite: Wallflower Walz
Cakewalk: Suite: Sleight of Feet
Cakewalk: Suite: Perpendicular Points
Cakewalk: Suite: Freebee
Cakewalk: Suite: Magic Act: Introduction of the Magicians; Venus and the Three Graces; The Wild Pony; Pas de deux; Ride-Out
Cakewalk: Suite: Finale: Gala Cakewalk
Interplay: Gavotte
Interplay: Blues
Rodeo: Hoedown
Fancy Free: Galop
Fancy Free: Waltz
Fancy Free: Danzon

Customer Reviews:

The Boston Pops & Arthur Fiedler.......2006-11-03

A very good performance by The Boston Pops and its Conductor Arthur Fiedler, the pieces here played, in special those composed or arranged by Hershy Kay, are very beautiful. I enjoyed it a lot

A ballet of marches.......2006-08-05

I heard this music on NPR one afternoon, and had ordered the CD before the music was over. I have loved Sousa marches since I was a kid in a marching band, but to have them connected to each other with beautifully appropriate transitions was wonderful. Now, here's a small confession. I also was going to be caring for my 3-year-old grandson in a few days, and I could picture us marching together to this music. We did, with great pleasure for both of us.

Stars and Stripes.......2005-09-08

The Boston Pops never sounded better..
All five ballet works beautifully scored and lead by Arthur Fiedler with Balanchines choreography for 'Stars and Stripes' a memorable event.

Yes, it's really ballet music - a la Balanchine.......2003-06-25

If you've ever seen Balanchine's rapid-fire Stars & Stripes ballet, you'll recognize this stirring version of Sousa's music. Devotees of the movie Center Stage will remember Ethan Steifel working up a sweat during his Stars & Stripes solo - it's a very demanding role. (The DVD has a bonus track so you can see a little more of the choreography).
I'm less familiar with Cakewalk and Interplay, but the Hoedown from Rodeo (Agnes de Mille's choreography) is included as are three pieces from Fancy Free (Jerome Robbins). So in spite of the Fourth of July packaging, this is really a terrific album for a ballet lover.

Average customer rating:

An American Piano Odyssey

Manufacturer: Americus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Galops | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000009MAH
Release Date: 1997-06-24

Tracks:

Nocturne
Son No.3: Vars
Son No.3: Scherzo
Son No.3: Adagio
Son No.3: Allegro
O Ma Charmante
Pas De Deux
Odyssey No.2
Graceful Ghost Rag
Tournament Galop
La Savane
Odyssey No.1

Average customer rating:

KEYBOARD FIREWORKS BUT FUZZY SOUND
KEYBOARD FIREWORKS BUT FUZZY SOUND

Great American Piano I, Volume VII

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Galops | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Mazurkas | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Polkas | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Lullabies & Berceuse | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Tracks:

The Union
Danza
Pasquinade
The Last Hope
Le Bananier
Bamboula
The Banjo
Souvenir of Puerto Rico
Creole Eyes
Midnight in Seville
Tournament Galop
Polka in B Flat
Grand Scherzo
Mazurk in f#
Bercuese-Cradle Song
Battle Cry of Freedom-Grand Caprice de Concert

Customer Reviews:

KEYBOARD FIREWORKS BUT FUZZY SOUND.......2000-03-29

LEONARD PENNARIO IS A VIRTUOSO AT THE KEYBOARD BUT NOT VERY WELL KNOWN IN THE GENERAL CLASSICAL SCENE. HIS NAME DOES NOT CARRY THE SAME RECOGNITION AS WATTS, ASHKENAZY, RICHTER OR AX BUT HIS PLAYING IS AS FLUID AND EXPRESSIVE. I GIVE HIM A LOT OF CREDIT FOR FOCUSING HIS TALENTS ON THIS LESSER KNOWN AMERICAN COMPOSER (HE HAS 2 ALBUMS ON THE ANGEL LABEL WITH THE MUSIC OF GOTTSCHALK) AND I'VE YET TO HEAR THE COMPOSER PLAYED WITH MORE FIRE AND BRILLIANCE. THE BOMBAST OF "THE UNION", "BAMBULA" AND "THE BANJO" ARE NICELY BALANCED BY THE TENDERNESS OF "THE DYING POET", "CRADLE SONG" AND "DANZA". THE PIANISM IS FLAWLESS YET THE RECORDING CAN SOUND FUZZY AND EVEN HARSH AT TIMES. DESPITE THE ACOUSTIC SHORTCOMINGS, THE 2 DISCS IN THE SERIES ARE A GREAT INTRODUCTION TO "AMERICA'S FIRST MUSICAL SUPERSTAR" AND THE LINER NOTES OFFER A FINE SYNOPSIS OF THE COMPOSER'S FASCINATING LIFE AND WORK.

KEYBOARD FIREWORKS BUT FUZZY SOUND.......2000-03-29

Average customer rating:

A Great Intro to American Classical Music - Almost a Short Course!

The Story of American Classical Music

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quintets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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Voice of the Violin

ASIN: B0009JMELK
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Customer Reviews:

A Great Intro to American Classical Music - Almost a Short Course!.......2005-07-12

Many reasonably sophisticated American and European musiclovers still think there are really no American classical music composers of note other than perhaps Gershwin and Copland. It is to the credit of the Naxos label, via their 'American Classics' series, that the lie is put to that notion. Each month there are new issues from Naxos containing music by American composers. And it was a brilliant idea for them to take selections from their dozens of releases of this music to put together this sampler of such music to illustrate a 100+ page essay on the subject by an eminent writer on music, Barrymore Laurence Scherer. The combination of 2 CDs of music tracks, Scherer's essay, a chronological outline, suggestions for further listening, even a map showing where various composers were born helps the 'student' learn much about our nation's musical heritage.

There are selections by twenty-eight composers stretching from the amazing Wagnerian 'Macbeth' Overture by William Henry Fry (1813-1864) to the very recent 'Rapture,' a percussion concerto by Michael Torke (b. 1961). Some selections are complete movements, others are shorter passages from larger works. Included are such gems as the first movement of Arthur Foote's Piano Quartet, the third movement of Henry Hadley's Fourth Symphony, Charles Ives's 'The Unanswered Question,' 'King Cotton' by John Philip Sousa, 'Maple Leaf Rag' by Scott Joplin, a passage (the exciting Spanish Waltz) from Walter Piston's 'The Incredible Flutist,' the finale of Copland's 'Billy the Kid,' the opening of Samuel Barber's luminous 'Knoxville - Summer of 1915,' 'Tonight' from Bernstein's 'West Side Story,' the opening of George Rochberg's masterful Violin Concerto, and John Adams's incredibly popular 'Short Ride in a Fast Machine.' Plus selections by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Edward MacDowell, George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Charles Wakefield Cadman, George Gershwin, George Antheil, Zez Confrey, William Schuman, John Cage, Gunther Schuller, Alan Hovhaness, Elliott Carter and Philip Glass. The performances are more than acceptable and in some instances ('Knoxville,' Rochberg's Violin Concerto) definitive.

I would heartily recommend this set (especially at its superbudget price) to anyone wanting to know more about the history of American classical music -- Scherer is a master of cogent, clear prose -- and wishing to hear examples of the broad range it has taken over the past couple of centuries. I can easily imagine this set being used in a music appreciation course. And I am sure it will spark interest in the newcomer to this branch of classical music.

2 CDs TT=ca. 160 mins.

Scott Morrison

Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics / Gould: Latin American Symphonette [SACD]

Average customer rating:

Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics / Gould: Latin American Symphonette [SACD]

Manufacturer: Vanguard Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005OAI6
Release Date: 2001-09-04

Tracks: