Amy Beach: Fire Flies

Joanne Polk (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Joanne Polk
• Audio CD (March 5, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Arabesque Recordings
• ASIN: B00000DMVN
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,752 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #9 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Short Forms > Impromptus
  • #38 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Short Forms > Nocturnes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEACH AT HER BEST (YET AGAIN, AND LASTLY), March 4, 2003

By 

Melvyn M. Sobel "Melvyn M. Sobel" (Freeport, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amy Beach: Fire Flies (Audio CD)

With this third installment, Joanne Polk completes her consistently thoughtful, exceptionally performed and unforgettably diverse traversal of the solo piano music of New England's own, Mrs. Amy Beach [1867-1944].

In reviews of Volume 1 ("By the Still Waters") [February 11, 2003] and Volume 2 ("Under the Stars") [October 24, 2000], never having heard any of these works before, and being caught completely off guard by the continuous melodic invention, ingenuity and personal voice of Beach, I had hoped to adequately express my excitement and enthusiasm. There were wonders here unique to the repertoire--- the marvelous Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60, the attractive miniatures of Op. 128, the Valse-Caprice, Op. 4, the mournful Hermit Thrush "dialogues" of Op. 92--- that needed talking about.

Volume 3 ("Fireflies") offers, if possible, piano music even more strikingly original than its predecessors. There are inspired creations here, too--- the lyrical, Schumannesque Four Sketches, Op. 15, the delightfully comic, almost jazzy Fantasia, Op. 87, with its slips and slurs trippingly mindful of Bach, the forward-looking miniatures of Op. 148, which subtly recall Brahms, Scriabin and, of all people, Ernesto Lecuona, the atmospheric impressionism of the Nocturne, Op. 107, the wistful Elgar-like ruminations aptly titled From Grandmother's Garden, Op. 97--- that cry out to be recognized and heard.

The apostolic Ms. Polk enables us to do both. By her absolute communion with the composer, she transfixes, her breadth of vision, every thought, whim and nuance captured to perfection in a recording of incredible clarity and warmth. Absorption such as this precludes the notion that these pieces can be played any other way.

[Running time: 69:38]