Piano Dance - A 20th Century
Portrait
Gloria Cheng
(piano)
TELARC
CD-80549
[72:07]
Crotchet
Here's an engaging programme of 23 pieces for piano to entertain and intrigue
the ear.
Commencing with the glittering but acerbic Red Ribbon Dance by Joan
Huong, powerful and forcefully driven, Cheng moves on to the William Albright's
relaxed and slinky music with Sleepwalker's Shuffle from Dream
Rags. Then comes another syncopated classic - Debussy's Golliwog's
Cakewalk from Children's Corner.
Cheng demonstrates an impressive technical and expressive capability but
always concentrates on making the music dance, concerned with flow and rhythm.
The programming is as unorthodox as it is imaginative. For instance, there
is a group of three contrasting tangos: Stravinsky's somewhat sombrely
introspective Tango; Samuel Barber's tentative and dreamy
Hesitation-Tango from Souvenirs; and Per Norgard's strangely
accented and slow and deliberate A Tortoise Tango (Without
Jealousy).
There are some familiar pieces (by tune if not by name) such as Poulenc's
sophisticated and flighty Valse-Improvisations sur le nom de BACH;
Ravel's elegant Waltz IV from Valses nobles and sentimentales;
and Mompou's colourful Cancion y Danza No. 6. But there are many
more, not so well-known that nonetheless captivate the ear like: Paul Hindemith's
teasing Shimmy from Suite 1922, Martinu's folkdance-like Polka
in E major, Ligetti's quirky, quicksilver Hungarian Rock for harpsichord
(Chaccone) in this arrangement for piano and synthesised piano; plus Scriabin's
early rather formal Mazurka in D flat major, and George Antheil's
wild Percussion Dance from La Femme de 100 Tétes.
An intriguing and entertaining collection
Ian Lace
