[.ca] Piano Music Vol. 1

From Amazon.com:
Many listeners will immediately recognize the opening piece on this disc, To a Wild Rose, one of MacDowell's best inspirations. However, even after a couple of hearings, they'll probably have trouble recognizing the rest of these pieces, none of which has the same kind of inspiration. MacDowell's deeply held belief that American music should copy European models was also his limitation. This music is historically important, but as a listening experience, it has the same effect as second-rate imitations of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. Barbagallo's lovely playing, a fine memorial to this regrettably short-lived artist, makes the music sound better than it really is, and the recorded piano tone is beautiful. --Leslie Gerber

Simplicity, clarity, brevity.:
These vignettes are not bravura performances (such as Chopin, Polonaise in A-flat), but short and brief tellings of a larger story. The only criticisms I have is that pianist James Barbagallo played, "To a Wild Rose", a bit too fast for my taste, and MacDowell might have written a different, "From a Wandering Iceberg", had he lived to see the Titanic disaster.

AN ENCHANTING PARCEL OF NEGLECTED MACDOWELL:
A master of the piano vignette, as these pieces aptly and beautifully illustrate, MacDowell (1860-1908) remains, for the most part, remembered solely as the composer of "To A Wild Rose," the first piece in his collection of Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, incomprehensible as it may seem. In 1993 HNH International began issuing the complete solo piano works of MacDowell on their expensive MARCO POLO label (which, by the way, is offered simultaneously with this CD--- so, be careful what you "click" on Amazon!) with the late James Barbagallo. The series eventually encompassed four CDs. Six years later, in a brilliant move, HNH has re-issued these very same recordings on their budget NAXOS label and, in so doing, has enabled us to enjoy the wealth of MacDowell's output without depleting our own finances. (Very thoughtful of them, maybe? Or, were the MARCO POLOs not selling too well? It's moot, now. And, anyway, who cares?) The point is, afterall, the music. And Volume 1, which collects MacDowell's four most important and endearing piano "suites," is the one to own. MacDowell is a bit of a paradox. Musically schooled in Europe, admired by Liszt, taught by Raff, and having his own viewpoints about composition, nobody typifies, personifies or exemplifies what one might call the "New England School" like MacDowell does. He's rather the Thoreau of New England music, actually, and especially the piano vignette, of which he is a master. Just look at the titles: Woodland Sketches, Fireside Tales, New England Idyls, Sea Pieces. For me, this music IS New England. There's more nostalgia in these four sets than you can shake a stick at! But, you know, in this case, more IS better, not less. This music has no whiff of the salon; it's of a particular place in America that calls to our very roots. It has a feel that cannot be accurately described. A mood. An ambience that resonates to the bottom of our consciousness. We become immersed in a dreamy reverie of our collected experiences, nostalgic yearnings, of people, places and things that have gone before... and are no longer. It's THAT kind of music. It reminds me of my childhood, of late Autumn days, the smell of burning leaves as Halloween crept nearer, of rainy days, of places lost and found and lost again, walks on the beach at sunset, quiet evenings watching the embers fade in the fireplace, of first loves gone, of lighthouses... of sweet and bittersweet melancholy. That kind of music. The kind of music that one "knows" without ever having heard before, innate within us all, and reaching down to our very fiber. And THAT is the wonder, beauty and profundity of MacDowell. You will understand completely when you listen. Please do.

• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Wild Rose
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Will-O'-The-Wisp
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: At An Old Trysting Place
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: In Autumn
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From An Indian Lodge
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Water-Lily
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From Uncle Remus
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: A Deserted Farm
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: By A Meadow Brook
• Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Told At Sunset
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: To The Sea
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From A Wandering Iceberg
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: A.D. MDCXX
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Starlight
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Song
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From The Depths
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Nautilus
• Sea Pieces, Op. 55: In Mid-Ocean
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: An Old Love Story
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Br'er Rabbit
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: From A German Forest
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Salamanders
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: A Haunted House
• Fireside Tales, Op.61: By Smouldering Embers
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: An Old Garden
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Summer
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Winter
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: With Sweet Lavender
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: In Deep Woods
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: Indian Idyl
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: To An Old White Pine
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: From Puritan Days
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: From A Log Cabin
• New England Idyls, Op. 62: The Joy Of Autumn