Malcolm Frager, piano
Edward MacDowell & Company is an excellent overview of late nineteenth-century American piano works by masters (MacDowell, Paine, and Parker) and lesser-known figures of the period (Foerster, Gilbert, Huss, and Nevin). These works reflect a shift away from dance-inspired and entertainment pieces to more formal compositions. Though the styles are quite different, there are similarities among the composers themselves. All were pianists or organists or both, all went to Europe for musical training, and all were schooled in the classical forms. As this recording testifies, their writing for the piano was fluent, stylistically distinctive from that of their European models, and bathed in the glow of Romanticism's embers.
The compositional flair and technical difficulties of the major work on the program, Edward MacDowell's (1861-1908) Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46, serve as reminders that the composer was a concert pianist with a considerable technique. The writing is at times passionate and rhapsodic, at times expansive and personal. The smaller pieces — Ethelbert Nevin's (1862-1901) Etude in Form of a Scherzo, Henry Holden Huss's (1862-1953) Prelude II, John Knowles Paine's (1839-1906) Fuga Giocosa and Romance, Henry F. Gilbert's (1868-1928) Mazurka, Adolph Martin Foerster's (1854-1927) On the Sea, and Horatio Parker's (1863-1919) Valse Gracile — ripple with charm and grace, with occasional hints of darker shadows (the Paine Romance and the Foerster). Essential listening for anyone interested in the evolution of American piano music and American music in general.
Edward MacDowell and Company
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Track Listing
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Etude In Form of a Scherzo, Op. 18, No. 2
Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin
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Prelude II, Op. 17, No. 2
Henry Holden Huss
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Fuga Giocosa, Op. 41, No. 3
John Knowles Paine
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Romance, Op. 12
John Knowles Paine
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Mazurka
Henry F. Gilbert
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On The Sea
Adolph M. Foerster
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Valse Gracile
Horatio W. Parker
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: I. Novellette
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: II. Moto Perpetuo
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: III. Wild Chase
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: IV. Improvisation
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: V. Elfin Dance
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: VI. Valse Triste
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: VII. Burlesque
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: VIII. Bluette
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: IX. Trà¤umerei
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: X. March Wind
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: XI. Impromptu
Edward MacDowell
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Twelve Virtuoso Studies, Op. 46: XII. Polonaise
Edward MacDowell
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