Piano Concertos of the 1920s
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Composer: George AntheilComposer: Aaron Copland
Composer: Arthur Honegger
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Conductor: Christoph Poppen
Conductor: Steven Sloane
Conductor: Israel Yinon
Orchestra: Bamberg Symphony Chorus
Orchestra: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Orchestra: WDR Sinfonie Orchester Köln
Performer: Michael Rische
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-04-12
Music Label: Arte Nova Classics
Soundtracks:
- Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. I
- I. Andante Sostenuto
- II. Molto Moderato. Allegro Assai
- Concertino Pour Piano Et Orchestra
- I. Allegramente
- II. Adagio Assai
- III. Presto
Music reviews of Piano Concertos of the 1920s
Music Review: A well-filled and intelligently conceived disc, at a bargain price, with Antheil a real find
Rating: 5 Stars
The same recording has previously been published by Arte Nova with a different cover, and I have reviewed it at length under two of its entries on Amazon (Piano Concertos of the Twenties; Piano Concertos of the 20s: Antheil, Copland, Honegger, Ravel [IMPORT]). I refer you to these reviews. It is a lengthy (70') and intelligently conceived program of (more or less) Jazz-inspired piano concertos, all composed in a same time-span (1922 to 1930) by French composers and American composers with strong French ties: Copland as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger and Antheil as the riot-stirring "Enfant terrible" of the Parisian scene between 1922 and 1927.
Antheil's 1st Piano Concerto is a real find. Despite (or because of) its numerous apparent quotations of other composers and compositions (I hear lots of Stravinsky, but also some Bloch, Ravel and even Ives and Orff - but much of the works I hear references to were actually composed later), it is very uniquely typical of Antheil in those early years, with its typical construction procedures of juxtaposition and succession of small passages of strong rhythmic and melodic flavour, with hardly any motivic development. It is brilliant, brash, colorful and immensely fun.
Honegger's short and rarely recorded Concertino is a neo-classical work with strong whiffs of Stravinsky in its first section but later on with snarling brass, march-like rhythms and a build-up of tension that are very typical of Honegger.
Ravel's Concerto needs no introduction, but Copland's might. Composed in 1926 and premiered by the composer under Koussevitzky in Boston in January 1927, it is Copland's attempt at creating an American vernacular musical language using Jazz. He didn't pursue and settled instead for another kind of vernacular that became his unique trademark - the epic and pastoral "prairie style". Yet the Concerto is a very enjoyable work, because its Jazz (heard mainly in the rambunctious second movement) is not of the watered-down Brodway/Gershwin type, but rather a unique case of Bartok meets West-Side Story. Indeed I hear in it striking echoes of Bartok's Second Piano Concerto, with the Jazz replacing the Hungarian folk-tunes. Interestingly, harbingers of the Copland-to-be can be heard in the first movement, alternating epic fanfares and more such pastoral episodes.
Rische/Sloane's reading will not erase memories of Copland's two recordings - one as conductor with Earl Wild in 1961 (Copland: Piano Concerto And Orchestra/Menotti: Concerto In F For Piano And Orchestra or Copland, Menotti: Piano Concertos), and three years later as the pianist, with Bernstein and New York (The Copland Collection: Early Orchestral Works, 1922-1935). There are spots in the first movement in which they are too solemn and pedestrian, and in the Jazzy second Rische is less muscular than Wild and a bit less idiomatic than Copland. But it is very serviceable nonetheles, and the orchestra has all the rambuctiousness and Jazzy drive required in the second movement. The Ravel gets a surprisingly good performance, dynamic and light-footed and very Gallic in Rische's relative dryness and refusal to "milk the cow" in the more lyrical and effusive passages. It also benefits from outstanding support from the Köln orchestra and Israel Yinon.
It also comes at a bargain price to make Naxos blush with shame and pale with fear.
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Description of Piano Concertos of the 1920s
Pianist Michael Rische has been heard regularly in the great concert halls at home and abroad since 1970. His numerous CDs have given him an international reputation, and his interpretations of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Ravel have been rated as being of unusually high quality. Particularly since his discovery of the piano concertos by Erwin Schulhoff and George Antheil (first performance on March 5, 2001 in London), Michael Rische is seen as a prominent advocate for that 20th century music in which classical music and jazz come together.The works on this album reflect the unique cross-fertilization of jazz and classical traditions in the 1920s, both in Europe and America, best-known today from the works of George Gershwin.
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