The Americanist
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
La Valse (1919-1920)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
An American in Paris (1928)
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Africa (1930, arr. for piano by composer)
Elizabeth Newkirk (piano)
rec. 2020, Rensselaer, Indiana, USA
BRIGHT SHINY THINGS BSTC-0166 [59]
Elizabeth Newkirk talks about a myth of America, neither historical nor fictional as she writes. It is the story of the American Dream, the story of innovation, of creativity and of the vast breadth of its landscape and the variety of its peoples, both native and immigrant. Her long and passionately detailed essay in the booklet is insightful, informative, philosophical and I will readily admit, to a simple lad like me, occasionally confusing but for many it is the music that counts. On that score I would consider this an album about more than America. True, Ravel was indeed inspired by American idioms in works like his Piano Concerto in G and the Violin Sonata but the inspiration for La Valse comes from an easterly direction, namely Vienna; it nods to the Vienna of the waltz kings but also ultimately to the loss and grief of a city that was past its golden age and that had faced the horrors of a world war. Gershwin's An American in Paris brings two countries and personalities together in a riotous profusion of colour and experience while Afro-American composer William Grant Still strides across two continents, forging memory and the myth, a lost past with the sounds of a new home and future. I imagine it could be said that whilst the music here is of three continents that in itself speaks of America as a melting pot of cultures.
Ravel himself transcribed his choreographic poem La Valse almost immediately for two pianos and then solo piano. It is a tricky transcription and not always the most natural under the hand but Newkirk mostly does it justice. She has a good, recorded sound that allows all the detail to come through and she manages to bring in some of the extra decorative passages that are written in smaller print. This is a work that has plenty of rubato written into it, with waltz themes that find themselves falling into the subterranean depths of the piano, gradually rising and falling; just occasionally I feel that a little too much rubato has been added and in the quiet E-flat version of the theme at 4:24 the scalic inner line upsets the flow and rhythm of the melody. She certainly has the measure of the notes and if I am not entirely sure I like her way with the bars leading up to the coda between 12:22 and 12:36 she captures the spirit of the waltz very well.
An American in Paris is one of the most familiar tone poems of the last century. The opening phrase, the breezy optimistic striding theme of the American tourist eager to explore this most romantic of cities is as descriptive and recognisable as almost anything in music. Like La Valse it seems to contain almost too many ideas and colours to translate to the piano but Newkirk brings it to bustling life, adding much orchestral detail along the way, presumably using Gershwin's own transcription and adding some touches of her own based on Gershwin's recordings.
William Grant Still is called the dean of Afro-American music and wrote a copious amount of music in practically all genres from Symphony to opera, jazz and film scores, many of which were championed by American orchestras and conductors such as Howard Hanson. It was Hanson who gave the premiere of his first Symphony, the Afro-American as well as the premiere of the orchestral version of the work played here, his symphonic Poem in three movements Africa, written in the same year as the symphony. Its three movements are titled Land of peace, Land of romance and Land of superstition and his vision here is not of Africa itself, nor does he try to employ or recreate African music. Instead he pursues an idea of Africa, a mythical, ancestral home that one can never return to, painting it in the idioms familiar to those who imagine and tell its story; spirituals, folk dance and the roots of jazz and blues. Land of peace sounds anything but peaceful at first; its opening is an enigmatic rhythmic figure built around three notes, two minor intervals on top of each other and the first of its spiritual-like themes is dark and brooding. It is only with the entry of the optimistic second theme, speaking of contentment and home, that we feel some of that peace but it is the first theme that ends the movement. The blues is the pervading element of Land of romance, and there is an element of melancholy to the first theme for all its beauty. An oddly syncopated section leads to a melody that is distinctly romantic, a prelude to a grand chordal passage and a return to the opening melody, now more insistently spiced with blues notes though the ending is relaxed and calm. Dance and rhythm are the subject of the first part of Land of superstition; hard edged rhythms are first, questioning and uncertain for all their vigour. New themes enter, each lasting just a short time before they are supplanted, the first based on a short dotted note rhythm then a hoe down whose jaunty mood is almost incongruous. A more driven theme propels the movement forward for a while but ultimately the brooding, tragic nature of the opening movement returns to bring the work to a close.
Elizabeth Newkirk brings a good deal of rhythm and verve to these pieces, such a huge part of what they are about and I have really enjoyed getting to know Still's symphonic poem through Newkirk's committed performance; I will be checking out the orchestral version soon.
Rob Challinor
