BERKELEY, L.: Music for Solo Piano and Piano Duet_音乐专辑
BERKELEY, L.: Music for Solo Piano and Piano Duet
又名: 莱诺克斯·柏克莱－钢琴独奏与重奏作品
表演者: Raphael Terroni/Norman Beedie
介质: Audio CD
发行时间: 1993
唱片数: 1
出版者: BMS
条形码: 6916107517799
专辑简介
It is a cause of some satisfaction that this exemplary disc of Lennox Berkeley's supremely worthwhile piano music is being re-promoted in his centenary year. It was originally awarded 3 stars in the ubiquitous Penguin Guide and included in the Gramophone Good CD Guide, as well as appearing in the annual Critics' Choice in Gramophone magazine. If you like the bittersweet compositions in this genre of Francis Poulenc and Samuel Barber then you will appreciate this without reservation. Less overtly British sounding than John Ireland and less romantic or folksy than Bax or Moeran, yet more immediately approachable than, say Leighton or Williamson, this music occupies a unique position in the 20th century canon. Raphael Terroni's performances of all the solo pieces are superb and he is ably supported by Norman Beedie in the duets.
The disc begins with the fairly conventional Six Preludes, written at the end of the Second World War, and also features the formative Five Short Pieces from a decade earlier. Neither works are ever less than exquisite and their simple time signature based titles belie their innate charm. As in the aforementioned Poulenc, a melodic lyricism is complemented by a certain quirkiness in some of the rhythms and there is certainly no lushness in evidence.
The Sonata, written over an extended period in the first half of the 1940s, is a much more ambitious and serious piece. I cannot imagine the performance here being easily surpassed, but both the Adagio and concluding Introduction and Allegro verge on the genius anyway, irrespective of performer (I can even imagine Keith Jarrett playing them!). Despite lasting well over twenty minutes, the work can be heard as an organic whole, and to these ears is as fine an example of Berkeley's muse as the best of his works for orchestra. I have a lot of time for Barber's equivalent piece and this is at least as good, if not quite as rich in pyrotechnics.
The four hand pieces are also a mixed bunch, in terms of their scope and vision, from the fairly formal Sonatina to the almost parodic Palm Court Waltz. If we stick with the Francophile comparisons, then I am perhaps reminded more here of a Milhaud like bravura rather than Poulenc or, as mentioned by the composer himself, Ravel. Whatever, Berkeley can more than hold his own in the company of these illustrious figures. This disc is quite rightly regarded as one of the British Music Society's triumphs and I urge all lovers of 20th century piano music to seek it out, I am convinced you will enjoy making its acquaintance. － Neil Horner
曲目
LENNOX BERKELEY
6 Preludes, Op. 23
01. No. 1. Allegro 01:38
02. No. 2. Andante 01:26
03. No. 3. Allegro Moderato 01:29
04. No. 4. Allegretto 01:39
05. No. 5. Allegro 01:33
06. No. 6. Andante 01:47
Raphael Terroni, piano
Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 20
07. I. Moderato 08:12
08. II. Presto 01:52
09. III. Adagio 05:30
10. IV. Introduction and Allegro 06:50
Raphael Terroni, piano
5 Short Pieces, Op. 4
11. No. 1. Andante 00:49
12. No. 2. Allegro Moderato 00:47
13. No. 3. Moderato 01:34
14. No. 4. Andante 01:35
15. No. 5. Allegro 00:42
Raphael Terroni, piano
Sonatina for Piano 4-hands, Op. 39
16. I. Allegro Moderato 02:54
17. II. Andante 02:25
18. III. Allegro 02:28
Raphael Terroni, piano / Norman Beedie, piano
Theme and Variations, Op. 73
19. Theme and Variations, Op. 73 07:50
Raphael Terroni, piano / Norman Beedie, piano
Palm Court Waltz, Op. 81, No. 2
20. Palm Court Waltz, Op. 81, No. 2 03:18
Raphael Terroni, piano / Norman Beedie, piano
