[.ca] A Portrait

From Amazon.com:
The life of Teresa Sterne is as noteworthy as the label she once presided over (Nonesuch). As a child prodigy, she successfully filled world-class auditoriums in the 1940s with audiences eager to hear her piano playing. Then, inexplicably, Sterne abandoned her concert career only to resurface as the leader behind Nonesuch Records in the late 1960s, turning the budget classical label into one of the more adventurous and consistently rewarding labels around (and generally keeping quiet about her earlier fame). Half of this double-CD tribute collects recordings of a teenage Sterne at the keyboard; the second disc is devoted to some of the finest recordings from her Nonesuch tenure (1965-1979)--both are engrossing. Ignore the surface noise on Sterne's disc (no small task on the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20), and you'll hear a young pianist in fine form--she is expressive, and boasts crisp articulation and fine technique. She dances through Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 with riveting intensity; on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the New York Philharmonic), she shows a sensitive but no less virtuosic side. On the second disc, we get a virtual best-of for Nonesuch Records, including tracks by Joshua Rifkin, Paul Jacobs, and William Bolcom. Hard to imagine anyone doing it these days, but in one five-year period (1970-1975), Nonesuch released albums featuring the music of Stephen Foster, Edgar Varese, George Crumb, and a platter of Bulgarian folk tunes. They're all here. Now battling Lou Gehrig's disease, Sterne herself may be unable to celebrate this release, but for anyone who has treasured a release from Nonesuch's glory days, it's a moving tribute. --Jason Verlinde

• Italian Con, BWV 971: I. Allegro - Columbia Conc Orch/Howard Barlow
• Pno Con No.20 in d, K 466: I. Allegro - Columbia Conc Orch/Howard Barlow
• Pno Con No.20 in d, K 466: II. Romanze - Columbia Conc Orch/Howard Barlow
• Pno Con No.20 in d, K 466: III. Allegro Assai - Columbia Conc Orch/Howard Barlow
• Hungarian Rhap No.13 - New York Phil/Efrem Kurtz
• Pno Con No.2 in c, Op.18: II. Adagio Sostenuto - New York Phil/Efrem Kurtz
• Pno Son: I. Allegro Con Moto - Teresa Sterne
• Pno Son: II. Adagietto - Teresa Sterne
• Pno Son: III. Allegro Vivo - Teresa Sterne
• Pno Son: IV. Allegro - Teresa Sterne
• Ov To An English Opr, Hob 1A-3 - The Little Orch Of London/Leslie Jones
• Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen - Paul Jacobs
• Herzlich Thut Mich Verlangen - Paul Jacobs
• Etude, Book II - Paul Jacobs
• Five Pno Pieces, Op.23: II Sehr Rasch - Paul Jacobs
• Ionisation - The New Jersey Perc Ens/Raymond DesRoches
• The Ragtime Dance - Joshua Rifkin
• Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
• Blondel Zu Marien, D 626 - Jan DeGaetani/Gilbert Kalish
• Double Con: Intro - Paul Jacobs/Gilbert Kalish
• Pno Son No.2, 'Concord, Mass': III. The Alcotts - Gilbert Kalish
• Wait 'Till The Sun Shines, Nellie - Joan Morris/William Bolcom
• Graceful Ghost - William Bolcom
• Ancient Voices Of Children: III. De Donde Vienes, Amor, Mi Nino?/IV. Todas Las Tardes En Granada... - Jan DeGaetani/Michael Dash
• Nyamamusango (Meat In The Forest) - Hakurotwi Mude/Cosmas Magaya/Ephat Mujuri
• Vetar Vee - Vasilka Andonova/Kremena Stancheva
• Ta Shto Mi E Miloj, Mamo - Nadezhda Georgieva Klicherova/Gena Ivanova Bodenova/Nadezhda Georgieva Paleastova
• Ketjak Dance - Teresa Sterne
• I Big You Goodnight - Edith Pinder/Geneva Pinder/Raymond Pinder/Joseph Spence
• Oyun Havasi - Teresa Sterne
• Ketawang Puspawarna - Teresa Sterne