overly rich nostalgic pieces and particles of the piano
936445
This is music that seems to have lapsed into a forgotten time warp, like when you open that old wood truck in the attic to find odd bits and particles,objects,dolls and photographs that immediately transports you into another fantasia place. That's what this music does. Hough has selected for the most part fast filigreed,rapid cascades and ribbons of pieces. Each however has its own narrative,its own special tale to reveal, a special musical texture,an endearing melody. Needless to say most of the composers here are those you've never heard before,like Ignaz Friedman, whose "Music Box" is not what you think, yes it has that timbre of forever moving tickly tones,for a ballerina popping out of a ceramic box. But there is a large pallette of sophistication here as well with the unique timbre of the piano. Every piece does this admirably. The Hexentanz of MacDowell (arr. Liszt) is a helter-skelter piece never stopping,scaling the upper regions of the keyboard,and this would be an encore work. It keeps you on the edge of your upholstered chair. Leoplold Godowsky is not an unfamiliar name,he is a specialist in the art of the arragement trying to capture a timbre, and here in Camille Saint-Saens forever memorable "Swan"the final days of post-romantic Louis Napoleon the Third era is handled with just a few more ripples in the pond than before almost imperceptible.
When played in consecutive order all these works I found myself bored,this music inhabits such a rich timbral world that it's message overspends itself, overspills into the next work. A modernist voice of Lowell Lieberman is here, a postmodern specialist in this genre of the new tonality, or the past revisited. Proust taught us the rich chasms of remembering, and the process of reoccurence of time returning in differnt guises. Lieberman's "Gargoyles" has its own sardonic charm.,equally at home compliasant with his timbral brethren.
3576881
This collection of compositions lauds itself as commemorating ancient journeys. From a modernistic view, this assertion is hardly contestable but prospective buyers should be aware that this body of music is chiefly the rendering of a single musician articulating a Synthesizer. Guitar, percussion, and an occasional small choir supplement this main instrument.

Here are my personal observations of each of the CD tracks:

1. Da Gama (3:31) -- A Brazilian synthesizer feel. Very upbeat, played predominantly in the minor key. Nice guitar.

2. Conquistadores (3:36) -- A peppy tune rendered in parallel harmonies.

3. Land of the Midnight Sun (4:25) -- Atmospheric, moody and more synthesized exploration.

4. Tigris & Euphrates (6:40) -- Solemn wallpaper music at a restrained meter. The chord structures yield a near-Irish flavor.

5. Byzantium (5:30) -- A percussion-based arabesque.

6. The Journeys of Marco Polo (3:03) -- A steady ostinato of synthesizer notes, coupled with minor percussion and guitar at a fast-paced meter.

7. The Horsemen of Bulgar (5:26) -- A Modernistic syncopated theme with some thick chords punctuating the entrance of an eastern concept.

8. Kublai Khan (4:21) -- This composition never really achieves any sort of Oriental feel as one might anticipate but is more Middle-Eastern in flavour (perhaps reflecting Kublai Khan's migrations and conquests). Definitely a modernistic arabesque.

9. The Crusades (5:38) -- A vague choir-based composition with clear roots in ancient religion.

As a number of these compositions allude to ancient religious themes (such as "The Crusades"), I think I can recommend a far superior, if not precisely comparable, CD which better conveys the actual tenants of at least Byzantium Christianity which was more "church-based" than it was "people-based":

<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Hovhaness-Magnificat-Op157-Symphony-No12/dp/B000000700/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Hovhaness: Magnificat Op157; Symphony No12</a>

Of course this is Modern Classical Music, conveyed by orchestra, pipe organ and a monumental choir (see my full review of the work). In any case&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Ancient-Journeys-A-Vision-of-the-New-World/dp/B00004LMKZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Ancient Journeys: A Vision of the New World</a>&nbsp;is an okay body of modernistic compositions, played for the most part on the newest of electronic instruments. My view is, if you can pick it up somewhere for a couple of bucks, it's probably worth having on your shelf for an occasional listen or to put on as dinner music but it's clearly not a timeless musical artwork.
481694
Imagine classical music fans 300 years from now considering the music of our era. Probably the works and styles of John Adams, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass plus Terry Riley's In C are easily recognized and perhaps performed, but the names of, say, Lou Harrison, Julia Wolfe, Robert Paterson, Robert Carl, Richard Danielpour, and Missy Mazzoli only bring blank stares. Now, this is how in looking back to the age of Mozart in Vienna, we encounter his own contemporaries: Matthias Georg Monn, Joef Starzer, Georg Christoph Wagenseil,  Johann Georg Albrechtsberger [Beethoven's teacher], Anton Zimmermann, and Johann Baptist Vanhal. Examples of their compositions are presented in this 2-CD album along with several works by the slightly more familiar Antonio Salieri and Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf. Camerata Bern, led by violinist Thomas F&uuml;ri and featuring oboist Heinz Holliger and cellist Thomas Demenga, give the listener an education in these lesser lights; but whose works are nonetheless worthy and enjoyable. Some of the pieces were never published before, but they all show interesting development and experimentation.  Nicely recorded in a Bern studio in 1982 and 1983, the album may give thought on the processes of art recognition in the marketplace of today.
3179526
In the early 1990s Horatiu Radulescu, long known as a composer of mystically titled works treating sound as flowing energy, reconciled himself to the piano. For two decades, Radulescu had only used the piano by standing it on its side and playing its strings directly with bows. Now after a request by Orwin Stuermer he wrote these three piano sonatas--the Second, Third, and Fourth, together the "Lao Tzu Sonatas"--which use the instrument in a rather more traditional fashion, and then ultimately a piano concerto (available on&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/another-CPO-disc/dp/B00000DHSP/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">another CPO disc</a>)

Radulescu's return to the piano came when he felt that he could write spectrally interesting music with the unalterable equal temperment of the instrument. There's a great deal of theory involved, assuming a knowledge of acoustics, which I won't duplicate here. The basic music material of the sonatas are quotations from the Romanian Christmas carols which Bartok collected. Often based on just two or three tones, these are some of the most ancient pieces of music in Europe and go back thousands of years. Radulescu has commented much on the "proto-spectral" nature of Balkan folk music and Byzantine chant, and he has seamlessly integrated those genres into these piano sonatas and his piano concerto. Each of the sonatas basically explores the same concerns, though each has its individual properties, whether it be the repeated notes and bass emphasis of the Third, or the prominent use of silence in the Fourth.

Without the ability to produce anything but tones and semitones, this simple piano music can never be as eerily beautiful as Radulescu's customary output. The basis of the music in Radulescu's spectral concerns is likely to be consciously evident only to those who, like the composer, have dedicated a great deal of time to the study of spectra. Nonetheless, this is in the main beautiful music. I suppose the most immediate comparison would be with the resonance and bell-like effects of Messiaen, but without that composer's birdsong and stock gestures and possessing more supple rhythms. The Romanian Christmas carols are very rich and seem an inexhaustible well (indeed, one of Radulescu's movements is titled "like a well, older than God").

If you don't yet know the music of Horatiu Radulescu, I'd recommend starting with the pieces available from the Avant-Garde Project. Uncomprimising but eerie and highly original, they are representative of Radulescu's music. The piano sonatas and concerto are a diversion which may give a false impression of his output, but they are an interesting diversion. It's a pity that this disc is now out of print and difficult to come by, and that no label has yet recorded his two later piano sonatas.
3154918
These recordings are interesting but I'd recommend them only for people who were interested in studying Scriabin's works, not for casual listening. What you have with these performers is a set of interpretations of the music from mid-20th century Russian pianists, pianists that are contemporaries or near contemporaries of Scriabin himself. (Like the professional review I find the piano roll stuff not very interesting.) Later recordings may be technically brilliant and stylistically superb but if what you're after is ideas on how the music should be played then this is probably the material you're looking for.

One or two of the pieces aren't played at all well. This gives you hope.
4196295
A certain "French" approach to music is the basis of this disc by pianist Gloria Cheng (with help from the Calder Quartet). Olivier Messiaen is of course one of the greatest French composers of the 20th-century, whose Catholicism and adoration of Debussy and Rameau put him squarely in his country's venerable tradition in spite of his adoption of certain modernist techniques. While Kaija Saariaho hails from Finland, she established her mature style after moving to Paris, studying with Grard Grisey, and working at IRCAM.

The Messiaen pieces date from opposite ends of his long career. The 8 Prludes for solo piano (1928-1929) were his first acknowledged work. Its movement titles speak to a certain sentimentality that would not persist much longer, e.g. "Chant d'extase dans un paysage triste" and "Les sons impalpables du reve". I can't say that there's anything especially distinctive or memorable about this music though (it sounds like any of a number of Debussy/Ravel epigones), and at 35 minutes it vastly outstays its welcome.

"Pice pour piano et quatuor  cordes" (1991) was written for the 90th birthday of Alfred Schlee. (The Ardittis recorded it with all the other Schlee tributes on&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/From-Vienna/dp/B000003VQM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">From Vienna</a>). This is mature Messiaen, with birdsong gratutitously quoted and a sort of hieratic ambience where blocky chords move slowly in procession. Unfortunately, Cheng's performance is unidiomatic and I cannot appreciate it at all in the context of a Messiaen discography. Just compare it to the aforementioned Arditti recording, where the pianist is the Messiaen protg Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and you'll see what I mean.

Of especial note for fans of Saariaho are the two pieces for solo piano. Saariaho has rarely written for the instrument, since its 88 equally tempered strings and long resonance jarred with her interest in microtonal inflections. "Prelude" (2007) and "Ballade" (2005) frequently disrupt the piano's discrete sounds with tremolo chords or glissandi. These are not major works, but fans of the composer will be happy to have them in their collection.

Saariaho's "Je sens un deuxieme coeur" for piano, viola and cello (2003) is based on music from her second opera "Adriana Mater", being something of a suite in five movements. As I write this, that opera has not yet been recorded, and unless you're willing to track down a radio recording, this is the only place to hear some of its music. Saariaho's music is starting to repeat the same ethereal, mysterious gestures, but this piece is brutal I've never heard from this composer before -- the opera is about a woman raped during wartime, and that sense of conflict comes through in the music. Cheng and the musicians from the Calder Quartet emphasize that sense of aggression more than the other two recordings (on&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/DG/dp/B0012C7GE8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">DG</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Ondine/dp/B008P76UYU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Ondine</a>&nbsp;respectively), and this is my go-to recording for the piece.

The liner notes are by Peter Sellars, of all people, and discuss Messiaen's early life (his mother was a poet who wrote a long poem on motherhood as the future composer was in the womb) and Saariaho's opera "Adriana Mater".
4437433
I really like Mozart's piano music, particularly the Sonatas. Every note seems to fit. Not so for this volume. I'm not smart enough musically to be more specific. I can tell you that I rarely open it.
3148127
Listening to a number of recordings of Telemann's varied and delightful 'Musique de Table' collection, I've been comparing this more recent version (2010) from the Freiburger Barockorchester under Gottfried von der Goltz, with older ones under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Reinhard Goebel and Frans Brggen. In spite of its enthusiastic reception and good reviews elsewhere, I am not at all taken with the present recording

The playing is on the whole stylish, graceful in places, with fine textures and good recorded sound. But the orchestral work is often tentative and sluggish, with flaccid dotted notes in the French-overture sections and frequently lifeless and pedestrian direction. There are lots of missed opportunities here. Unlike some other recordings, including those under Harnoncourt and Goebel, repeats are not made in the Ouverture movements; in my view this decision deprives the music of some of its intellectual weight and structural strength.

In general the chamber works are more successful, and these are the pieces I enjoyed most. The instrumental playing in itself is very good throughout.

Recorded sound is good too, although there is some background traffic rumble in places which will be picked up on decent stereo systems. Booklet notes are excellent, although the illustrations in the folding digipack and booklet are an entirely naff idea. I know Telemann called his collection Musique de Table, and some decently posh baroque-period cutlery would have been just about acceptable - but the very dull modern stuff depicted here does nothing for either music or presentation.

I thought of scoring this set with two stars, but I suppose it's good enough in parts to merit three. It certainly has little to bring excitement to our lives, and there are some far better alternatives. My personal first choices would be the recordings directed by Harnoncourt and Goebel, with the older Brggen set still impressively holding its own in this very competitive field.
4140578
It has often been said that Liszt conquered the piano, while Chopin seduced it.  Similarly, a great classical pianist was once asked what was more difficult to play--a bravura Liszt piece or the slow sections of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.  His response--the Liszt, despite its overt virtuosity and blizzard of notes, was easy to play, whereas the slow pieces such as Moonlight were extremely difficult to play well.  German composer Hans Otte's "The Book of Sounds" seduces the piano in such a fashion that Chopin himself would surely be pleased.  This fragile, delicate, often ethereal, but deeply affecting work places enormous value on each and every note, and utilizes passages of silence and space between notes to astounding effect.  At times, it is somewhat reminiscent of the best work of jazz pianists Bill Evans and Paul Bley, both of whom created works in which what is not played is as important as what is.  It is works such as this that refute the juvenile notion that loudness and a high dynamic level are necessary to create intensely felt music.  Sometimes, the slowest and most covert music has the greatest emotional impact.  ECM and Herbert Henck deserve plaudits for providing wide exposure for this unforgettable music, and we can only hope that the composer's follow-up to the Book of Sounds referenced in the liner notes will soon appear on disc as well.
1976417
In my opinion, this is one of Chopin's most beautiful piano compositions.  This rendition is lovely, but Ting plays too quickly for a waltz and at times the melody is too heavy for my liking.
572633
Some songs have nice analog piano back up tracks but then some have the cheesy sounding midi piano tracks.
211965
While I agree with the enthusiastic reviews on this page, I take issue with the title `Duo Piano Extravaganza', since the reviewed album features not the bizarre periphery, but the core of the modern concert repertoire for the two pianos. Of course, Bartk's Sonata Sz. 110 requires two percussionists and Saint-Sans's `Carnaval of Animals' requires a chamber orchestra in addition to the duo-pianists, so these works are better-suited for the concert hall than for home music-making.

The main attractor for the public is Martha Argerich's name but her company is equally distinguished. In the most part of the program Argerich is joined by the great Romantic virtuoso Nelson Freire. His crystalline clear sound is a welcome addition to Argerich's fervor and music concepts. In Rachmaninov Op. 17, Debussy's `En blanc et noir' and Bartk's Sonata for  Sz. 110 Argerich's partner is Stephen Kovacevich, an accomplished master on his own account.  The Argerich-Kovacevich items come from 5/1977, while the Argerich-Freire items were recorded 1982 and 1985.

The best single track: Lutos'awski's `Variations on a Theme by Paganini' (CD 2, track 1). It is an early (1941) and unequivocally tonal piece - definitely more in the vein of the Liszt's version than in the vein of the Brahms's Paganini-variations.

The greatest work: Bartk's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110 (CD 2, tracks 2-4). Contrary to some fellow reviewers, I have nothing against including into this compilation Bartk's own arrangement of the sonata as a Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra, Sz. 115 (CD 1, tracks 11-13). For the first, Bartk's music is so great that if you loved it as chamber work, you will enjoy it in shape of a concerto too and will follow the changed timbres. For the second, the 1985 remake is in much better sound than the 1977 Argerich-Kovacevich version. For the third, it gives a chance to hear the magnificent playing of Freire and the timbres of the great Concertgebouw orchestra. As for the interpretation, the first movement of the Sonata/Concerto is more aggressive in the Argerich-Freire variant. For the second and third movement I would go to Argerich and Freire.

I rate both Argerich-Kovacevich Bartk's Sonata Sz. 110 and the Argerich-Freire  Bartk's concerto Sz. 115 above the Labeque sisters recording which has the same coupling&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Bartk-Sonata-for-Two-Pianos-and-Percussion-Concerto-for-Two-Pianos-Percussion-and-Orchestra-Katia-Marielle-Labque/dp/B00000DNHO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Bartk: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion / Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra - Katia & Marielle Labque</a>. As for other versions of the sonata Sz. 110, the large-scale approach of with Maria Yudina and Victor Derevianko (Melodiya) in many respects (alas, except the sound) remains unsurpassed: unfortunately it is not available on CD.

I won't argue against Mr. Morrison's point that no recorded version of Saint-Sans's `Carnaval of Animals' surpasses this performance of Argerich & Freire (CD 2, tracks 5-18). For a comparison one can take a very elegant and stylish recording with Gza Anda and Bela Siki&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Piano-Concerto-1/dp/B000003XJC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Piano Concerto 1</a>: the same Testament CD also offers Liszt's First Piano Concerto and the Hungarian Fantasy with Anda - performances not to be missed. I do not want to be deprived of any recording of the Argerich-Freire duo, but if you want to hear a more idiomatic performance of Rachmaninov's Second Suite, Op. 17 (CD I, tracks 7-10), you can try the recent CD with Lugansky and Rudenko, which also includes Rachmaninov's Op. 5 (KTL o4-947).
2477050
The phenomenon of minimalist music I think is better understood from its initial stages, for after market popularity sets in the theoretical fascinations seem to dissipate, seem to become rationalized away as unimportant and cumbersome. If you take all four praticioners here, to my mind only their early works seem to hold any interest at all,it is only the only works that have a "longevity" factor, where we can still find points of interests. For it was in the early works that carried the weight into what we have now.
Musical minimalism as well is a kind of misnomer in that the term began in the visual arts and if you go there you will find the term and its results and achievments has a much more vigorous base of contemplation and export. There simply is more important things happening there, as Donald Judd,the minimalist shrine of cubes and geometric shapes in an old Army base in Marfa Texas or the flourescent lighting schemes of Dan Flavin, the powerful sculptural plates of Richard Serra,or painters abound as Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Bridget Riley. There simply is no comparison with the level of conceptual depth and gestural focus, what art is suppose to do, what it did, and how the concept is engaged,and how it responds to its context and art history,or a temporality (how for instance the spirit, ir-religious of course is engaged in Richard Serra, his plates where the human mind simply stands there engaged in peace with his own existence or sense of space and time). Musical minimalism has no equivalent, and it is a shame for it could have had this. La Monte Young's "Well-Tuned Piano", a 9 hour work with just intonation tunings of the piano comes close to the temporal vigours of Judd's shrine I beleive.
With the introduction of opera in the works of Glass well now we are in another dimension, for Glass resorted to traditional classical structures of opera, duets, trios, quartets, (as in Aknathen) this is no longer innovative means. Potter's book draws light on this paradigm here makes you think of these issues what minimalism did and what it is now. Was it simply a fad?, or did it produce sustainable music?, music we can return to once or twice, or was minimalism simply "grist" for the mill of the market, one time, make the cash, take the money and run. Again the importance of minimalism is found in its early repertoire, Reich fascinating threadbare music for four woodblocks was all he needed to write to proclaim a status, or Glass's early music with Farfisa organs and saxophones,"Music in Fifths" or Riley's "In C", or his "Keyboard Studies" are all relevant pieces we can return to unpretenciously.

The late Morton Feldman is of course not here. He had intense knowledge of the visual arts world and his last works sought to reclaim this paradigm for music (his Second String Quartet, and Triadic Memories, For Chritian Wolff) are works scaling long durational lengths a place where minimalism in music seems to be now a beginning point not an end. Had Feldman lived I think he would have written even longer works. Of course Cage's massive work for organ now being realized in Halberstadt Germany, a work lasting years is also a step in the right direction.
1579210
If you're drawn in to this music by listening to the calmer (tempo) pieces on it, then be prepared for more hectic pieces that are interspersed on it; I'm systematically skipping thru and zipping forward. It doesn't make for perfect background atmosphere if you want to entertain or be entertained on that laid-back Friday evening Happy Hour, chilling out. Also, if you care about perfectly tuned piano's than this might be trying you; an oversight in a production of such excellent touch of the piano and feel for timing.
2681614
Certainly, the folk music of the United States is rich and varied, but the folk music of central Europe is just as rich and varied, maybe more so, and has the distinction of being older. The Hungarian composers Bela Bartok (1881-1945) and Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967) and the Czech composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928) drew upon the vast folk melodies handed down in their countries for generations, and on the present disc American pianist Andrew Rangell (b. 1948) plays several of these composers' best folk-inspired piano works.

Rangell practices a light, often delicate touch on the piano, an approach that serves him well in the slower, airier scores. Nevertheless, he maintains a good deal of power in reserve, making his technique not only dramatically virtuosic but uncommonly sensitive and diverse as well. A short biography of Mr. Rangell indicates that he holds a doctorate in piano and has just recently recovered from a severe hand injury that sidelined his career for some seven years. I wonder if sometimes tragedy can't be a blessing in disguise if you use it to your advantage, in this case forcing the pianist into a style he might not have adopted earlier. I would love to hear him return to recording Chopin (he released the Mazurkas for the Dorian label in 2003; now perhaps Steinway can persuade him to do the Etudes, Preludes, Waltzes, and such).

Producer and soloist Rangell and engineer Tom Stephenson recorded the music for Steinway & Sons at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, Massachusetts in May, 2012. The piano sound they obtained appears entirely focused, with a good perspective if miked a tad more distantly than one usually hears. The venue provides a full, resonant acoustic, a mild hall reverberation giving it a realistic presence. Because there is a wide dynamic range involved, the overall volume level is a touch low.

John J. Puccio
Classical Candor
1615230
Although Smetana is a well-known composer I suspect that only the most ardent fan would know any of the music on this collection of orchestral miniatures, containing as it does mostly early music and orchestrations of piano pieces by other composers. There is nevertheless plenty to enjoy, and much of the music contain elements and themes characteristic of the composer. Yet much of it carries the stamp of ideas not fully developed, and most of it is lighter (and often slighter) fare. Overall, its appeal might hence be mostly to the specialist, but between the less interesting music there are some gems that would deserve to be somewhat better known. Some of the music has later been recorded in Chandos's series of Smetana's orchestral works; I have not heard that collection, but the performances on this disc by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra under Rober Stankovsky are perfectly fine; lively and spirited and only occasionally a little rough around the edges.

The opening tracks are very early works. The first is a very early and uncharacteristic - but pretty - Minuet in B flat major from 1842. The contemporaneous Bayadere Galop that follows is charming but too long already at 4:39. The Festive Overture (1848-49) is a dud, however, and already from the opening do you realize that this will be a very long eight and a half minutes - and it is (perhaps a little more sheen and thunder in the playing would have helped, though). Doctor Faust, an overture for a puppet play (1862), is characterized by strange textures - it sounds almost unfinished with its out-of-place piano sequences - but little interesting by way of melodic material. "To Our Lasses" (1862-63) is a polka, and Smetana surely knew how to write those - light and slight perhaps, but utterly charming.

The Shakespeare Festival March (1864) is occasional music in the worst sense, as is the Solemn Overture on the Occasion of Laying the Foundation Stone for the National Theatre (1868). I cannot say much positive about either, but they are followed by the remarkable, hauntingly beautiful and shimmering, impressionistic The Fisherman, for harmonium, harp, and string orchestra (1869). The two polkas, A Country Woman (1882-83) and Louisa's Polka (1840, orchestrated by I. Krejci) are charming and engaging - especially the original work.

The disc concludes with two suites of piano music arranged by other composers. The Wedding Scenes were composed in 1849, and aren't entirely characteristic of the composer. The orchestrations by F. Hertl are decent, but I cannot imagine that they add anything to the music, and the music itself is not exactly Smetana at his most inspired. The Sketchbook suite consists of six movements reconstructed by J. Smolka; it is a little unclear to me exactly what Smolka's contributions are, but these are nevertheless modestly engaging, tuneful works, worth hearing.

Overall, then, this is something of a mixed bag. There are some really fine works here - the polkas and The Fisherman stand out, though they are not the only enjoyable works here. But the worthwhile ones are mixed in with pieces of more questionable merit, and overall I am not sure I can give the disc a completely unequivocal recommendation. The performances, however, are generally fine, though not without rough edges, and the sound is pretty good.
164026
I bought this CD a month ago, and the three other CDs in the series, in an upscale thrift in Easton MD (indeed, a very upscale town), in a previous 4-disc edition issued 30 years ago by Musical Heritage Society and Chandos. Having long loved the choral, solo and to some degree orchestral works of Sir Arnold Bax, I was immediately intrigued. Once home, I was blown over. First, the performances - Eric Parkin was well known among UK pianists for most of the 20th Century because he knew the repertoire of his fellows every which way - he was a consummate artist, for whom many UK composers composed what then were called "occasional works". A first listen is a virtual lesson in phrasing and nuance, sensing the poetry of the places and friends so honored in the titles. As I am a music lover and historian, I am loathe to evaluate the compositions - though to my mind the works are at the top of the novelty of their time, historically extremely significant - and inspiring. ... I am disappointed that the CDs are now so rare as to push up the apparent out-of-print price. HELLO, CHANDOS RECORDS LLC, your late English composer and performer's works cry out for your attention - surely you can find a way to reissue and to market these fine recordings. They are part and parcel of UK artistry in the 20th Century. ... However, for those seeking a reference here on Amazon - go buy it while you can.