www.ImpromptuClassics.com

Robert Schrade, pianist: Live from Carnegie Hall, Volume II

Home
Inaugural Release: Homage to Chopin, Rorianne Schrade
Released in 2009: Howard Aibel, A 25th Anniversary Concert
Released in January 2010: CD of Robert Schrade, Live from Carnegie Hall, Vol. 1
Robert Schrade Volume II

Volume II of "Robert Schrade: Live from Carnegie Hall" was released in January, 2011. Please see below for comments from American Record Guide's review from the July/August 2011 issue!

CDoutsideV3.jpg

Robert Schrade at Carnegie Hall, Vol. II
Bloch: Sonata; Barber: Excursions; encores
 
Impromptu 110101 - 67 minutes
(PO Box 20446, NY 10021)
 
Alas! My colleague James Harrington, who reviewed Volume 1 (May/June 2010) will have to wait for this volume since it was sent to me, His rave review and expression of "I can't wait!" are amply justified. 
***
Bloch's Sonata from 1935 is an impassioned work that is now rarely performed. Schrade projects the turbulent and difficult music of his friend with power and strength. Although a world apart from the composer's more Judaic aspirations, both music and performance are gripping. 
Barber's Excursion also make a rare appearance and remind us what we have been missing. From boogie-woogie to blues, a cowboy ballad and a hoedown, the music holds to a strong profile without any digression to the tasteless. It is all sharply characterized; and Schrade, who also befriended Barber plays with accuracy and high spirit.
The balance of the program is actually a series of encores that ony whet the appetite for more. Brahms' Capriccio in G minor, Op. 116: 3 is played with just the right amount of zest and lyricism. 'Une Barque sur l'ocean', perhaps a bit more crystalline than usual, makes one yearn for the remaining movements of Miroirs. Fauré's Barcarolle 5, here getting its Carnegie Hall premiere, is forthright in its angular phrasing, and 'Triana' by Albeniz quite virtuosic at a slick speed that allows for little in the way of nuance. This almost flippant approach is the only misjudgment in the otherwise splendid recital.
'La Tartine de Beurre' (Mozart) , with its glissandos and instructions for the right hand to use one finger only, must have been humorous to watch. Like so much of this program, it is rarely heard these days, but sorely missed. A Rondo by Hummel and one by Dussek complete the program, except for an all too brief piece, 'Solitude', from the Little Acorn Suite by Schrade's wife, Rolande Young. Now that I have heard Volume 2, I will have to look into Volume 1.
ALAN BECKER, American Record Guide, July/August 2011





Powered by Register.com