Customer Reviews

George Frederick McKay: Suite for Viola and Piano; From My Tahoe Window; An April Suite; Caricature Dance Suite

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McKay was, for most of his adult life, professor of music at the University of Washington. He was the first graduate of the composition program at the Eastman School of Music and his teachers there were Christian Sinding and Selim Palmgren. He was an early teacher of William Bolcom.

The main performer on this disc is the eminent composer/pianist William Bolcom, who is involved in all the performances save that of the Viola Suite. And, of course, he is well-known for his way with a rag; all the better, then, that the first piece, cutely named 'Snickertyskip', comes on like something by Zez Confrey or Billy Mayerl. Indeed, most of the music here is fairly light in nature. And I must say that it also tends to be somewhat generic; character pieces like 'Storm Clouds' sound little like their titles to me. Nonetheless, this music is winning in its low-key, soft-spoken way. It seems, in retrospect, that the only piece that ventures for very long above a gentlemanly mezzo-forte is the Suite for Viola and Piano.

The first piece in 'An April Suite', called 'To the Blue Eyed Days of Spring,' is lushly romantic and stands out from the surrounding pieces by its delectable melodies and jazz-inflected harmonies.

The four songs sung by Bolcom's wife, Joan Morris, are unpretentious but telling. I was particularly moved by 'Every Flower That Ever Grew,' written near the end of McKay's life to an ancient Irish text. Morris's style, well-known from the 20 or more albums that she and her husband have recorded, is quite apt for these gentle, sometimes humorous, sometimes melancholy songs.

The Viola Suite, altogether stronger meat, with anger, irony, wit, near-resignation but ultimately resolute determination is convincingly played by Mahoko Eguchi, viola, and Sanford Margolis, piano.

Naxos is to be commended for their continuing series of recordings of virtually unknown music by American composers.

This album of suites of brief piano pieces composed throughout the underappreciated career of George Frederick McKay, a professor at the University of Washington, suggests that he may be an American Poulenc or Debussy. Like Poulenc, his pieces from the 1920s and 1930s are playful winks and are highly melodic of strong national character, in this case of American ragtime, cakewalks, and jazzy riffs, as well as pastorals. His thoughtful, moody summer "patterns" of Lake Tahoe (1965) suggest French Impressionism. Three of five art songs (1964) are presented with cabaret singer Joan Morris and her husband William Bolcom on piano. The final work, a romantic suite for viola and piano from 1948 is also rich in melody and rhythm. It is a wonderful, at times beautiful, chamber piece, and violist Mahoko Eguchi performs it with deep sensitivity. I am very glad that Naxos has brought this American composer to wider attention. Good art will prevail.