Customer Reviews

Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not sure how other reviewers could have found this music weak and naive--too much Schönberg, maybe? Or maybe they were trying to delve its musical profundity, when in fact this music isn't profound and doesn't claim to be. It's just energetic, fun music from a composer who wasn't content to color within the Classical-era lines. If you can imagine "Creole Classical," in fact, that's a good description of this CD. Although the bulk of the album consists of rollicking showtunes (most of which feature the piano as the dominant instrument, since most of the songs are orchestral arrangements of piano pieces), there are some surprisingly tender, lyrical moments as well. The whole album is imbued with an intriguingly pre-Jazz flavor that combines with the classical structure to create some of the best moments in American music: catchy, energetic and always entertaining. For those moments when Beethoven (or Schönberg) is too much depth for one day, this CD is the perfect alternative... particularly at this price.

Every once in a while, I like to buy a CD of a composer I'm not familiar with (and with NAXOS's low prices, why not?). When I got home and listened to this one, once wasn't enough. I listened twice through. This CD is real fun!!

In his day, Gottschalk was called "the Chopin of Creoles." Most of his writing was for the piano and this CD is generally short piano pieces arranged for orchestra. The music mixes strong folk melodies and New Orleans Creole inspired syncopation with the European Classical tradition- the result being a distinctly american divertimenti.

The music as a whole is very motif oriented with a touch of variation and some interesting arrangement twists. While and orchestral CD, the piano gets a lot of attention, giving us some nice interplay between the two.

The only complaint I have is that the CD was recorded at a music festival where professional musicians are playing side by side with selected 'pre-professionals.' I'm not a snob and normally it wouldn't bother me, but Gottschalk's unusual syncopation tends to be unprofessionally slopppy at times. Fortunately, any mistakes are in the supporting insturments. No star shall be subtracted because NAXOS has done such a great job giving us a quality CD at a good price.

If all of the 11 cuts on the Naxos release of <Louis Moreau Gottschalk: A Night in the Tropics> (8.559036) are listed as "arr." or "orch." by thus and so, it is because Gottschalk wrote primarily for the piano. But as it is with Gershwin and Kern, the music sounds good in any arrangement; and I found this CD to be very delightful listening indeed.

The Hot Springs Music Festival under Richard Rosenberg gives us an hour of such short selections as "Celebre Tarantelle," "Tournament Galop," "Berceuse," and the title piece "Noche en los Tropicos." There is endless fascination in hearing how this composer (who died in 1869) was "the first to capture the syncopated music of South Louisiana and the Caribbean in enduring works that anticipate ragtime and jazz by half a century" [liner notes].

I received a thank you phone call from a Florida reader who was sent by one of my Amazon.com reviews to a CD of Gottschalk's music in the original piano versions and who found her first exposure to this composer a revelation. Perhaps this Naxos album will have a similar effect on many of you.

Note: the title on the CD album is not the same as that listed on this website. I find that recording companies have stopped giving definite names to their sets and you will find the titles on the spines and on the covers different in too many cases. Why?

The orchestral arrangements of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's piano works are long overdue. Like Moritz Moszkowski, Gottschalk's music is seldom heard. This recording should certainly help provide a higher profile to this romantic and wonderful composer.

The two versions of the Celebre Tarantelle are refreshingly lyrical to the ear and the melancholic "O! ma charmante" provides soleful contrast with its beautiful melody and orchestration.

The arrangements for orchestra are light and very pleasing. Once again, Bravo to NAXOS for bringing wonderful music to the fore at affordable prices.

this CD is one of the best in the "american classics" series i have heard. the playing is warm, playful and full of energy.

these delightful compositions for orchestra and piano seem almost timeless. again thanks to naxos for bringing this largely unknown composer's talent to a modern audience at a steal!

The reviewers who complain of "naive" and "weak" orchestration should read the liner notes. The orchestrations are not Gottschalk's, mostly, but those of Richard Rosenberg, artistic director of the Hot Springs Music Festival. And while it may seem easy to blast Rosenberg, Gottschalk was no master of orchestration himself. I played in the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra this summer, including recording more Gottschalk (as well as Nazareth and Bares) for Naxos, and I promise that Gottschalk's treatment of Mehul's "Grande Chasse de Jeune Henri," which will soon be released on Naxos, will leave no doubt in your mind that Gottschalk was right to restrict most of his activity to the piano. (More proof that Gottschalk was indeed the the "Chopin of the Creoles")
At any rate, this series of recordings seems to me a worthwhile historical project. There is some really beautiful music on these discs, in addition to some music that really need never have been revived. In any case, the listener to this disc will find some enjoyment, little offense, and much food for thought about the development of American musical culture.

This lovely collection of Gottschalk is nothing but pure fun, as well as a great introduction to this composer's music. Full of catchy rhythms and melodies, this music is undeniably American, but with a French Creole twist. Performances by Richard Rosenberg and the Hot Springs Music Festival are superb, giving Gottschalk's music a light and effortless quality that is full of charm. A circa-1850's piano lends a vintage sound to a number of the selections that is quite pleasing. A thoroughly enjoyable CD!

Louis Moreay Gottschalk was the first American soloist to actually achieve status and recognition as a virtuoso solo performer. His music is also remarkable for its incorporation of Caribbean folk music (especially rhythms) in his compositions. His many piano pieces are inventive, remarkable creations looking forward to jazz and - especially - ragtime and sounding little like anyone else's (and combining some real compositional skill with imagination and creativity).

Now, while I would recommend his piano music to anyone, the works on this disc are mostly arrangements of some of his more delectable and/or buoyant pieces. That by itself would be perfectly consistent with Gottschalk's musical sentiments, I guess, but the question is whether it really works. Well, some of the arrangements are genuinely charming and effective - I am less sure that the (contemporaneous) arrangements of the Berceuse, or the Célèbre Tarantelle are really worthwhile substitutions for their originals, for instance. Overall, however, the conclusion must be that something is lost in every arrangement here, and - unfortunately - nothing is really gained (though for people already familiar with the music, I guess some of it is worth hearing once).

More interesting is the Symphonie romantique "A night in the Tropics", which after all was originally scored by the composer (indeed, the recording here claims to be faithful to Gottschalk's original). But this one is also available elsewhere, and despite some spirited playing by the Hot Springs Music Festival, it lacks the rhythmic tautness and polish of Abravanel's version - it is indeed full of life here, but even the atmospheres get compromised by the lack of polish and sheen (Gottschalk was not a daft orchestrator, to put it mildly, so Abravanel's version is all the more impressive). The arrangements for smaller ensembles are more satisfactorily rendered in general, at least, even though there is some remarkably sloppy playing (missing much of the complex rhythms and syncopations) at times. And of course, the arrangements are also musically less interesting. The recored sound is very good however. To sum up, this is really a disc of more limited interest than what might appear to be the case at first glance; yet it should be enjoyable enough for Gottschalk fans.

Upon listening to this CD I understand why Gottschalk is noted mainly for his piano compositions. I found the whole CD weak musically and the orchestration naïve. It seems as if these pieces are piano works that want to be orchestral compositions when they grow up.

I have several other CDs by this conductor, not sure of his credentials, who seems on a mission to champion the music of the unknown composers. While I applaud his work in bring the music of composers of color to the public's attention I must say that there are many more notable Black and Hispanic composers who deserve to have their music played before we go dipping into this well of musical obscurity.

I think that this conductor needs to ask himself something that many musicologist ask before wasting time on second rate composer: why is a composer's music not known in the first place?