Composer: Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Performer: Genova and Dimitrov Piano Duo
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: CPO
Catalogue: 555453-2
Release: 2022
Size: 549 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60
3 Movements for Piano Four-Hands
02. No. 1, Allegro appassionata
03. No. 2, Moderato
04. No. 3, Allegro con fuoco
Suite for 2 Pianos Founded upon Old Irish Melodies, Op. 104
05. I. Prelude
06. II. Old-Time Peasant Dance
07. III. The Ancient Cabin
08. IV. Finale
Summer Dreams, Op. 47
09. No. 1, The Brownies
10. No. 2, Robin Redbreast
11. No. 3, Twilight
12. No. 4, Katy-Dids
13. No. 5, Elfin tarantelle
14. No. 6, Good Night
Now the famous and successful Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo turns to the American composer Amy Beach. Her compositional oeuvre marks a high point within the great phase of consolidation experienced by art music in the United States between the Civil War and World War I. Amy Beach was not the first American woman who composed or the first America woman who earned money with her compositions; but she created a stir in the music world by forging ahead into genres in which previously only men had distinguished themselves.
However, it was above all the piano that was Amy Beach’s lifelong companion. She honored her instrument with solo compositions in a total of twenty-six opus numbers distributed equally over her entire compositional career from the 1880s to the 1930s. Even though her music for piano four hands or for two pianos is limited to a few compositions, they just as positively attest to their author’s talent as do her works for two hands.
The original version of Amy Beach’s Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 is her most extensive composition for piano two hands and the one that is the most challenging in playing technique. At the same time, these Variations represent one of her most significant endorsements of folk music.