A number of fine piano recordings have crossed my desk
over the years, but few have given me as much pleasure as the
second volume of piano music by Amy Beach, most beautifully
played by Kirsten Johnson (review).
Indeed, I was so smitten that I made it one of my picks of the
year for 2009. This might explain why I was so eager to hear
this third instalment, a well-filled disc of Beach’s later
pieces. Given Johnson’s real affinity for this composer
and Guild’s exemplary sonics, this promised to be a cracker.
And, believe me, it is. The commanding octaves of the Fantasia
may give way to music of disarming simplicity, but there’s
no mistaking the keen intellect at work here, the Fugato
combining rigour with rhapsody. There’s more of the latter
in the fluttering figures of La Fée de la fontaine,
as gossamer-light as one could wish for. There’s a welcome
blend of focus and feeling in Johnson’s playing, a cherishable
and all-too-rare quality these days. Just listen to the subtle
rhythms and gentle inflections of Le Prince gracieux
and the amorous little waltz that follows; dynamics are finely
controlled, details rendered with a mix of precision and warmth.
Sous les étoiles has a classical symmetry and
proportion that’s surely Schumannesque. The rollicking
rhythms of the harlequin’s dance are superbly articulated.
Thus far this disc is every bit as captivating as its predecessor.
The Lotos Isle is infused with a misty languor - better
still, a ‘mild-eyed melancholy’ - that resonates
in the mind long after the final notes have slipped their moorings
and drifted away. The cadences of Tennyson’s poem are
well caught with Johnson’s supremely refined touch a joy
to hear. This is very different from the stentorian chords that
open the Op. 81 Prelude and Fugue, which thunder forth
with masculine energy. Yet Beach has an irresistible urge to
wander - in the best Romantic tradition - so form is apt to
give way to fancy. Yet even here one senses a governing logic
or structure, so the music never seems aimless or rhetorical.
Beach was interested in folk music - take her Variations
on Balkan Themes, for instance - so it’s no surprise
to find that From Blackbird Hills is subtitled ‘Omaha
Tribal Dance’. Prancing rhythms co-exist with music of
surprising inwardness, yet another of those now familiar juxtapositions
that make Beach’s music so fascinating. And speaking of
folk tunes, The Fair Hills of Éiré, O!
is injected with just the right amount of pathos; this ability
to hold fast to the music’s sentiment and not give way
to sentimentality is one of Johnson’s sterling qualities.
Speaking of which, the silvery tones of A Hermit Thrush at
Eve ‘in the orginal key but an octave lower’
are simply gorgeous. There’s an arresting stillness to
this performance that’s entirely apt, the Guild team capturing
every vibration and tremor with astonishing fidelity.
Indeed, this is one of the very best piano recordings I’ve
heard; the acoustic seems well nigh ideal, as does the balance,
and that makes already fine playing sound all the more immersive.
The botanical bounties of Grandmother’s Garden
bloom with the same ear-catching colours that permeate so much
of Beach’s music; Morning Glories appear in a cool
spray of sound, Heartsease fading over a gentle, falling
bass. The Tchaikovskian Mignonette and the more robust
Rosemary and Rue add plenty of shape and texture to this
deftly sketched display. As for Honeysuckle, the easy
burble of Beach’s writing here at times reminds me of
Gottschalk. After all this progression comes the valedictory
- and sometimes Joplinesque - Farewell to Summer and
the highly animated Dancing Leaves.
This is a well-programmed collection, with enough variety to
keep one fully engaged to the end. That’s not a given
in anthologies of this kind, and all the more reason to applaud
this enterprise as a whole. Liner-notes written by the artists
themselves aren’t always a success either, but Johnson’s
strike a good balance between description and analysis. I ended
my review of the last volume wondering whether that disc would
be a Recording of the Year. It was, and this one is likely to
be too.
Dan Morgan
Track-listing
Fantasia from Fantasia fugata, Op. 87 (publ. 1923) [2:05]
Fugata from Fantasia fugata, Op. 87 [4:04]
Les Rêves de Colombine, Op. 65, Nos. 1-5 (1907)
La Fée de la fontaine[3:30]
Le Prince gracieux [3:56]
Valse amoureuse [2:47]
Sous les étoiles [3:53]
Danse d’Arlequin [4:18]
The Lotos Isles [?1914) (3:32]
Prelude and Fugue, Op. 81 (publ. 1918)
Prelude [4:16]
Fugue [6:00]
From Blackbird Hills, Op. 83 (publ. 1922) [4:36]
The Fair Hills of Éiré, 0!, Op. 91 (1921)
[4:33]
A Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op. 92 (1921)
No. 1 [5:03]
No. 2 [4:28]
From Grandmother’s Garden, Op. 97 (1921)
Morning Glories [1:13]
Heartsease [3:02]
Mignonette [2:21]
Rosemary and Rue [4:11]
Honeysuckle [2:47]
Two Pieces, Op. 102 (publ. 1924)
Farewell Summer [2:39]
Dancing Leaves [1:29]
Kirsten Johnson (piano) 
