music
IN CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Five Piano Sonatas George Walker, Steven Beck Bridge A sequence of piano sonatas offers one of the most direct looks into a composer’s most private and most practical obsessions, not to mention one easy way to measure the evolution (or lack of evolution) of their compositional techniques. Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert turned them out by the dozen. The romantics were more cautious, with Chopin, Brahms, Schumann writing only three each. In the 20th century, certain Russians regained ground in terms of sheer numbers, such as Mednter (14), Scriabin (10), Prokofiev (9) and Ustvolskaya (6). As for some prominent Americans, Copland, Carter and Barber wrote one, Ives wrote two, Sessions three and Wuorinen four. George Walker is one of the few leading American composers of the 20th century to produce as many as five piano sonatas. Taken together, they securely chart a lifetime of stylistic change. Walker was the first black person to break through various glass ceilings: the first to be accepted at the Curtis Institute of Music, first to study with Nadia Boulanger and the first to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music. Walker is also one of the only major composer-pianists to have recorded worthy performances of virtuoso standard repertoire including Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and the Brahms second piano concerto. Buddy Collette in Concert - Live
Buddy Collette Bridge A fluent multi-instrumentalist, and the composer of everything from TV jingles to chamber music to jamsession staples, Buddy Collette has tended to be a victim of his own versatility. But The Buddy Collette Big Band in Concert, which captures a 1996 performance in Washington, D.C., is probably his best calling card to date. For one thing, it demonstrates that the 75-year-old leader remains in fine form on the tenor sax, clarinet, and (especially) flute—check out his nuanced reading of “Blues in Torrance,” and the 18
ICON | FEBRUARY 2022 | ICONDV.COM
way his ebullient solo keeps bumping up against the tune’s descending harmonies. What’s more, the disk showcases Collette’s compositional gifts. He’s concocted some rousing vehicles for his 19-piece band, and the bright, brassy arrangements on “Andre” and “Blues Number Four” suggest late-period Basie, alternating catchy riffing with piquant solo voices. Among the latter, Garnett Brown delivers some attractively gutbucket trombone, while saxophonist Louis Taylor comes out swinging on “Magali.” There’s also a guest appearance by the leader’s old comrade-inarms Chico Hamilton, who drives the ensemble through a heated version of “Buddy Boo.” But despite his aversion to hogging the spotlight, this is clearly Collette’s show—and it’s about time, isn’t it? —James Marcus Dorothy Maynor in Concert Dorothy Maynor, Arpad Sandor, piano Bridge The release of this newly re-mastered 1940 recital by the great Dorothy Maynor is cause for celebration. Historian Rosalyn M. Story writes, “In the history of American singers, Dorothy Maynor stands out as an artist endowed with the power to exalt, to transport the hearer above the realm of the ordinary and beyond the limits of normal expectation.” A discovery of Serge Koussevitzky, who called her, “a musical revelation,” Maynor quickly established herself as one of the great talents of the era. This recital program contains riveting interpretations of songs and arias from the German and French and American repertoire. Maynor’s last group, and her encores focus on Negro spirituals. Writing in the Washington Post, Paul Hume called Maynor’s voice, “a starspangled glory; its effortless beauty haunted audiences that came to love the singer as much as the song.” It was that kind of communication that endeared Maynor to audiences, and made her one of her country’s greatest singers. Leontine Price, Great Performances Leontyne Price and Samuel Barber Bridge This award-winning disc compiles two live performances featuring Leontyne Price and Samuel Barber. The 1953 recording features
the spectacular 26-year-old Leontyne Price, accompanied by Samuel Barber at the Library of Congress. The duo’s entire recital is issued complete for the first time. In this recital Ms. Price and Mr. Barber give the world premiere performance of Barber’s “Hermit Songs,” and perform Henri Sauguet’s “La Voyante” (The Fortune Teller) and other songs by Barber, Poulenc and Fauré. The remarkable 1938 recording, released to the public for the first time, gives us the 28-year-old baritone, Samuel Barber in 12 songs, accompanying himself at the piano. This rare recording reveals Barber as a performer of uncommonly deep communicative power. The 1938 recording (issued in cooperation with Mr. Barber’s estate and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia) includes folk songs from England, America, the Tyrol and Tuscany as well as lieder by Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, C.P.E Bach and Schubert. Algonquin Cecil Taylor Bridge The visionary piano virtuoso Cecil Taylor was commissioned by the Library of Congress to write a work for violin and piano in 1999. The result was Algonquin—an intensely joyful dialogue between violinist Mat Maneri and Taylor. Taylor’s score bridges the gap between jazz and classical music–between improvisation and notated music. As annotator Bill Shoemaker writes: “A Taylor score opens a moment of intense creativity, but only for that moment; afterwards, the score is merely part of the record, fodder for the files. What endures in Taylor’s music defies notation, conventional or otherwise. It begs the question: Is a score that is little more than an outline, and designed only for a single use, as legitimate as one where all aspects of performance are specified, and has been repeatedly performed over for years, decades and even centuries? Given the exhilarating energy conveyed through this recording, the answer is surely yes.” n
