A fair degree of froth, as the title implies,
never did anyone any harm, and this is a pleasant disc to have
on - surprising how after a while one takes the solo pianist’s
virtuosity for granted. Joshua Pierce’s playing is stylish, squeaky-clean
with showers of notes pouring from the whole range of the keyboard.
This spans from Addinsell’s concerto, which was used as a basis
for the soundtrack of that highly unmemorable film ‘Dangerous
Moonlight’, on to Chopin’s fairly unsubtle but tuneful variations
on a theme from the duet between Giovanni and Zerlina from Don
Giovanni, and then the inevitable Gershwin. The version here
of his Rhapsody in Blue is billed as ‘complete and restored’.
It gets an uninhibited performance from Bratislava’s players,
who wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near its ‘decadence’ 15
years ago. Listening to it, one wonders why Gershwin was so keen
to study with others when he was so brilliant himself. Ravel,
when he got an answer to his question asking how much Gershwin
earned, responded ‘I should be studying with you’, while Schoenberg
refused him with the priceless comment, ‘you write such fine Gershwin;
if you worked with me you’d just write bad Schoenberg’.
Saint-Saëns was himself no mean pianist
as this cheery waltz demonstrates. It was a wedding present for
his duo-pianist partner Caroline Montigne-Rémaury and sparkles
from beginning to its very fast end - a good waltz tune too. Another
Caprice follows, this time worlds apart from the sophistication
of 19th century Parisian society. This is a sexy ragtime
by the American composer Paul Turok, whose pedigree is impressive
in a range of compositions from music for unaccompanied violin
to an opera on Richard III. This Caprice may owe
much to Scott Joplin but it also shows considerable skills in
its colourful orchestration. Even the cartoon music preceding
its final stripshow-like section and mad dash to the finishing
line will impress. Liszt’s paraphrase on Weber’s music takes a
while to get going after its moody orchestral introduction, but
finally erupts into a whirling waltz making huge demands on the
soloist. A selection like this would not be complete without the
famous scherzo from the fourth of Litolff’s symphonic piano concertos,
and it makes a fitting conclusion to this hugely enjoyable disc
with its infectiously familiar tune. It may sound easy but Pierce
is a fine pianist with both prodigious technique and stylish skill.
Christopher Fifield
Joshua Pierce (piano)