Track Listing

1. Allegro Moderato
2. Scherzo: Vivaco (Perpetuum Mobile)
3. Largo
4. Allegro Con Scioltezza
5. Allegro Con Fuoco
6. Alla Siciliana - Allegro Vivace - Andante
7. Lento Con Molta Espressione
8. Allegro Di Molto

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61574 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-17
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Naxos brings together, for the first time on a single disc, two of Amy Beach’s finest compositions, her Piano Concerto, Op. 45, and her "Gaelic" Symphony, Op. 32 which makes use of four traditional Irish tunes in addition to original themes composed in the same idiom and spirit. Born supremely gifted in piano and composition, she grew up in an era when society expected women to marry and stay at home, not have professional careers. Against opposition from family and society, she first became a concert pianist and, after marriage, this country ’s first successful female composer of major concert works.

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece indeed
A previous reviewer hits the nail on the head; the "Gaelic" symphony is more than competent but the Piano Concerto is a masterpiece. It is long (four movements, forty minutes), full of good tunes and asks the soloist to be almost continually virtuosic with little respite, and he rises to the challenge brilliantly, as does the conductor and orchestra. A look at the score (from IMSLP) confirms this; the composer clearly completely understood the piano and wrote magnificently for it, but also gives the orchestra a lot to do.

My only minor criticism is that the recording places the piano a little too forward and, as its part is stuffed with instructions like "tutta forza" (with all force) and "martellato" (hammered), it tends to drown out the orchestra, which is frequently doing something interesting rather than a simple accompaniment.

But I recommend this recording wholeheartedly; it is the best recording of a piano concerto I have heard for some time.

Irish nationalism -- a nice recording
These are two of Amy Beach's premier compositions. She is renowned as the top female American (born in New Hampshire) composer of her day, no thanks to her parents who did not much savor the idea of "career women". Beach was a prodigal pianist, highly skilled, but was limited in that endeavor largely by her husband, Dr. Beach, (her maiden name was Cheney), to one public appearance per year. He was, however, very supportive of her endeavors in composing her music.

When Dvorak launched his "New World Symphony," (Symphony No. 9), it was conveyed with an idea to celebrate his newfound home, presented as a sort of gift, to and for America. Beach challenged this idea to some degree in that she believed that a composer should, through nationalistic music, celebrate and commemorate their ancestral homelands, which in her case was Ireland.

This music is quite typical of the period in which Beach composed. Her piano concerto shares a similar flavour with Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. I also detected some parallels with the Rachmaninoff concertos, (which are more complex) manifesting the genre of "Modern Music".

The "Gaelic" Symphony, to my ear, is somewhat reminiscent of the larger works of Mendelssohn. There is nothing brash about it and the work is quite melodic, and where Beach was clearly clinging to her Irish roots.

The Nashville Orchestra, while rendering a nice, tight work here, is still "young" and listeners should therefore not expect a huge, rounded sound that one might experience with, say, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. "It is what it is" at this point in their development and I much look forward to hearing more of their CD releases in the coming years.

Overall, for some nice road or dinner music, you won't go wrong by acquiring this recording. It's a superb selection of Beach's works, a fine job in coveying them by the Nashville Orchestra, and thanks again to Naxos for making these historic compositions available to us.

One fine work, one masterpiece
This CD contains one very fine work, the symphony, and one masterpiece: the piano concerto. This would be the second recording for both of them. I vigorously encourage program directors to consider putting the Beach Piano Concerto in their season concerts. It is one heck of a great piano concerto. I'm not one to heap too large a dose of ecstatic praise on lesser-known works, but this is one of the most exceptional of piano concertos I have ever heard.
These works both are from the post-romantic era, so they are textured appropriate to that time. But one gets the sense of more mobility...there is no `sluggish' moving here. And moreover, they sound American. Even the "Gaelic" Symphony leaves its stamp as a purely American work. There is fine playing from pianist Feinberg, and from Schermerhorn and the Nashville Symphony.
I fully recommend Mrs. Beach's two great orchestral works.