Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Piano Music

List Price: $5.45
Our Price: $5.41
You Save: $3.54 (39%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details

CD Details

Music reviews of Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Piano Music

Music Review: America's First Feelgood Music
Rating: 5 Stars

This disc features a pianist I've long admired, the Filipina Cecile Licad. [A personal side-note: One of her Chopin-filled recitals was the last I was able to take my mother to before her death. My mother had been my first piano teacher, and Licad played a number of pieces Mother had taught me. We both knew she was dying and the music brought tears to our eyes again and again.] One wouldn't immediately think of Licad being attracted to this music, but she explains in the booklet that the Spanish influence still felt throughout the Philippines makes her to respond emotionally to the Latin-influenced [Creole] music of Gottschalk.

This disc contains much of the familiar music by Gottschalk (e.g., Le banjo; Bamboula; Le bananier) but also a fair amount that is less-heard (e.g. The Union, a paraphrase on the Star-Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, and Hail Columbia; Souvenir de Porto Rico; an arrangement of the 'Jota Aragonesa' familiar to us from pieces by Glinka and Albéniz, among others). 'Souvenirs de Andalousie' has that familiar bass line made familiar by Lecuona's still-popular 'Malagueña.' This program is all played with immaculate technique and suave musicality. Some pianists tend to play Gottschalk in a 'how-fast-can-I-play-it-and-impress-the-heck-out-of-you' style; not Licad: she's making real music here.

This is yet another winner from Naxos's triumphant American Classics series. Enthusiastically ecommended.

Review by Scott Morrison.

Classical CDs

• Music > Styles
• Dance & Electronic
• Miscellaneous