Norman LLOYD (1909-1980)
Three Scenes from Memory* [3:50]
Five Pieces for Dance (1935-38)* [11:36]
Episodes for piano* [9:06]
Sonata for Piano (1958)* [14:31]
Peter MENNIN (1923-1983)
Five Pieces for Piano (1949) [13:49]
Sonata for piano (1963)* [17:00]
Myron Silberstein (piano)
rec. Patrych Sound Studios, Bronx, New York, USA, 20-22 August 2012
* world première recordings
NAXOS 8.559767 [69:53]
Whatever my feelings are about America and the ‘American way of
life’ I find American classical music an absolute treasure trove
of brilliance. I am almost never disappointed, finding much to admire
in virtually everything I come across. I say this whether it involves
some of the earliest composers in its history like William Henry Fry,
Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Charles Converse and Arthur Foote or Charles
Ives, Amy Beach, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, William Schuman and Samuel
Barber or Joseph Achron, Irwin Bazelon, Arnold Rosner, Alan Hovhaness
and Frederic Rzewski or Michael Torke, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John
Adams and the minimalists. An infectious, refreshing and affecting originality
characterises them all. It may be a young country but in musical terms
they’ve made up for ‘lost’ time and its roster of composers
is a long one. The above partial list covers the romantic period from
the 1780s up to today but there were a number composing in America even
before that from Johann Pachelbel’s son Charles and including James
Hewitt whose life (1770-1827) mirrors Beethoven’s dates precisely.
On this disc we have music by two really interesting composers who were
active in the middle of the twentieth century. As the informative booklet
notes explain, for a large part of their early careers their lives seemed
to echo each other. Both were born in Pennsylvania, both spent much time
teaching, both lectured at The Juilliard School and were each in line
to take over from William Schuman as President with Mennin the final one
chosen. Their lives took different turns with Norman Lloyd’s name
and music remaining largely unknown while Peter Mennin’s fared much
better. Both his seventh symphony and the Sonata for Piano are
considered as among the greatest of their genres in American music terms.
As is so often the case, when you hear Norman Lloyd’s
piano music you cannot understand why it should have been less successful
than Mennin’s; each is so compelling. Lloyd’s Three Scenes
from Memory pack a lot of descriptive material into a total of under
four minutes and are charming though simple as pieces for students to
play. His Five Pieces for Dance includes Puritan Hymn: Dance
for Five a piece commissioned by the doyenne of dance in America,
Martha Graham. Blues shows his ear for jazz so it will not surprise
anyone to learn that he and wife Ruth played jazz and popular music as
a duo to earn a crust during The Depression. Piping Tune – Tune
for the Open Air is a really great example of ‘folk music’
with a distinctive-sounding Celtic fiddle influence very apparent. With
Dance Hall Study the jazz idiom is revisited and rounding off
the set, Theme and Variations is the most complex and difficult
but ultimately most rewarding piece.
With composition seemingly a secondary occupation to teaching and much
of what he wrote unpublished, the result is that it has been difficult
and at times impossible to date Lloyd’s work with any degree of
accuracy. It is presumed that Episodes for Piano was probably
composed in the 1940s. They range from the meditative to the upbeat and
require greater pianistic skills than the preceding pieces.
The final Lloyd work is his Sonata for Piano written in 1958
though not given its première by its devotee Joseph Bloch until
1966 for reasons that remain unclear. At fourteen and a half minutes this
three movement piece is a clearer demonstration of Lloyd’s compositional
abilities than what has gone before with some powerfully expressed rhythmically
driving music alternating with quietly reflective moments of considerable
beauty.
Peter Mennin’s name is more widely known and respected
than Norman Lloyd’s despite the works he wrote being small in number.
He concentrated on the big statement in his compositions and the booklet
essay writer notes that these include nine symphonies, three concertos
and a major cantata as well as sonatas for piano and violin and piano.
His Five Pieces for Piano of 1949 is a substantial work that
shows a highly developed compositional talent at work. It calls for considerable
pianistic skills to pull off with conviction with the final Toccata
an especially taxing example. As mentioned above his Sonata for Piano,
written in 1963, is regarded as one of the best examples of the genre
in all American music. For that reason it is surprising that this recording
is its world première on disc after fifty years. This is the more
remarkable considering its commissioning by the Ford Foundation on behalf
of Claudette Sorel, a pianist of Franco-Hungarian origin who was a piano
prodigy, gaining a degree from the Juilliard School aged nine. It is a
complex work that, like the preceding pieces, requires a high level of
competence to achieve a rewarding performance, one that it certainly receives
here. It is to be hoped that it will lead to further recordings and to
securing its deserved place in the repertoire.
Myron Silberstein gives convincing performances with Mennin’s sonata
the highlight. The disc is another milestone in the Naxos American Classics
series which has done so much to reveal the fantastic breadth of meritorious
music written in the USA. There are around three hundred discs to date.
These two American composers whose lives were so often in tandem also
shared similar fates. They died within three years of each other from
cancer: Lloyd of leukaemia and Mennin of pancreatic cancer. Each left
works which, together with those of other compatriots, help create the
incredibly rich tapestry that is American classical music.
Steve Arloff
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