Donna Amato Plays Alistair Hinton, Kaikhosru Sorabji, Ronald Stevenson

On this CD:

1. Den Bergtekne (Taken into the Mountains)
Composed by Ronald Stevenson
Performed by Donna Amato

2. Norse Elegy for Ella Nygaard
Composed by Ronald Stevenson
Performed by Donna Amato

3. Beltane Bonfire for piano
Composed by Ronald Stevenson
Performed by Donna Amato

4. Malicious and perverse variations on "Ase's death"
Composed by Kaikhosru Sorabji
Performed by Donna Amato

5. Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Grieg
Composed by Alistair Hinton
Performed by Donna Amato

Donna Amato Plays Alistair Hinton, Kaikhosru Sorabji, Ronald Stevenson, Music, Alistair Hinton, Kaikhosru Sorabji, Ronald Stevenson, Donna Amato, 20th/21st Century Variations for Keyboard, Classical, Keyboard, Miscellaneous, Miscellaneous Music, Music for Keyboard

Average customer rating:

This recording is a hermetic testament to the music of Grieg

Donna Amato Plays Alistair Hinton, Kaikhosru Sorabji, Ronald Stevenson

Manufacturer: Altarus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Sorabji | Sorabji, Kaikhosru | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
Piano | Keyboard | Instruments | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003IXS
Release Date: 1995-11-29

Customer Reviews:

This recording is a hermetic testament to the music of Grieg.......1998-10-21

This recording is a testament to "things of the North" in general, and the music of Edvard Grieg in particular. It begins with Ronald Stevenson's transcription of a Grieg song "Den Bergtekne," which functions as a prelude to the entire recording. The next two pieces are both by Stevenson. "Norse Elegy for Ella Nygaard" uses a theme at its climaxes that, although not a quotation from Grieg, is a Grieg-like theme that the composer associates with him. It is followed by "Beltane Bonfire," which has no direct connection with Grieg, but as a testament to nature as invoked by the musical representation of an ancient Celtic folk ritual, coming after the sorrow expressed in the elegy, functions as music of consolation. The bonfire it invokes was lit to drive away the winter's darkness, an apt metaphor for the music of solace.

The following two selections also function as a unit. Sorabji's "Variazione maliziosa..." is a miniature variation of a theme from Grieg's "The Death of Ase." The literary equivalent of an aphorism, it is a radical variation on the Grieg theme. It functions as a prelude to the masterpiece of the recording, Alistair Hinton's "Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Grieg." This is a set of extended variations that are as long and diverse as the Sorabji variation is brief and concentrated. Also based primarily on the "Ase" theme, it also contains allusions to other themes from Grieg, and themes from Paganini, Mahler, Reger, Busoni, and jazz pianist Art Tatum. It runs the procedural gamut from simple to complex variations. If Sorabji's piece is like an aphorism, Hinton's is like an epic.

Donna Amato's playing reveals that she is a true disciple of the spirit of Feruccio Busoni.

Music Review: