RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Amy BEACH (1867-1944)
Piano Works: Vol. 3 - The Mature Years
Kirsten Johnson (piano)
rec. 4-5 March 2010, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
Track-listing at end of review
GUILD GMCD 7351 [74:43]
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
One of the very best piano recordings I’ve heard.
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]