Made In USA : Gershwin, Beach And Barber

Description

Presented as "An Experiment in Modern Music" at its creation in 1924, Rhapsody in Blue would bring fame to George Gershwin, who quickly set to work on a version for solo piano, recorded here by Claire Huangci, who wanted to celebrate this centenary and its American roots for her first solo album for Alpha Classics, as well as her birthplace and the land of her musical studies and her first steps as a concert pianist at the age of nine... A brilliant improviser and transcriber, Earl Wild (1915-2010) takes on Gershwin and draws from his songs (Liza, Fascinatin’ Rhythm, Somebody Loves Me, I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, Oh, Lady Be Good, and The Man I Love) seven highly virtuosic piano studies. Equally virtuosic is Samuel Barber's Sonata Opus 26, which Vladimir Horowitz, the creator of the work in December 1949 in Havana, considered one of the few Americans capable of writing for piano... Hailing from New Hampshire, composer Amy Beach draws inspiration from popular music, both from the New World and from the Balkans, while maintaining her harmonic language of romantic heritage. Her Variations Opus 60, composed in 1904, reflect these influences.