Customer Reviews

Gottschalk: Piano Music

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It seems that Martin wasn't able to produce the dance-like figures in Gottschalk music, specifically, the Latin and Creolean rhythm. The "Banjo" is played too slow - it seems that he literally lived by its Moderato tempo. I am much more awed with martin just playing the slow pieces.

But I recommend CECILE LICAD's Naxos Gottschalk recording over this.

Delightful and quite uplifting salon music by today almost completely forgotten US composer born in New Orleans - Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a big star in his day and he left trail of broken hearts behind him as he toured the States and South America. In fact,his fame as celebrated pianist was such equaled his notorious ways with ladies - he loved women and they loved him back - Gottschalk himself complained that young girls who flocked at his concerts distract him and made him hit the wrong notes. He lived during American Civil War and was very,very successful concert performer but alas,sex actually killed him - scandal of seducing a lady from Oakland Female Seminary led to quickly leaving States and touring South America instead,where he got malaria and died at the age of forty. And than he was forgotten.

Before 1970s hardly any of his music could be heard anywhere,such is the nature of the fame that new generations never hear about stars of yesterday. Particularly in the world of classical music its easy to stuck with works of sanctified few but rare are those curious to explore dusty corners,luckily the pianist Philip Martin (backed by always brave label "Hyperion") decided to record the whole serial of collected piano works by Gottschalk and "Gramophone" complimented these recordings,selecting a pretty piece from CD Vol.8 for their the-best-of-the-month issue in 2005. where I noticed how much I enjoy this music. So I bought vol.1 liking it very,very much.

Liner notes are almost apologizing in their statement that Gottschalk was no more than a crowd pleaser and not really a great composer,but I hear in his music very clear and distinctive original sound that comes as a mixture of European discipline and New Orleans dance rhythms. He might learn piano from works of great European composers but from his balcony in New Orleans he could also hear slave dances on Place Congo and this combination of various influences makes his music actually a exotic original long before ragtime and than Jazz came in fashion. Listen carefully and you hear everything from waltz to mazurka and spanish sounds. And here is of course a real hit of its time,"Le Bananier" known as "Chanson Nègre" which is quite unforgettable in its simplicity and charm,true gem.

I became fascinated with Louis Moreau Gottschalk and his music when I heard a performance on vinyl record of his Bamboula in the 1960s. In the decades since, Gottschalk's music has slowly been recovered from obscurity, and now there exist quite a few recordings and interpretations of his work. I have Gottschalk performanced by Cecile Licad (I'm not fond of her performances), Amiram Rigai (don't like it much), Michael Lewin (very nice interpretations), Georges Rabol (fine interpretations) and Klaus Kaufmann.

However, this set of 8 disks of music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk by Philip Martin is far and away the best. The recordings and especially Philip Martin's interpretations, pacing, enunciation of the various simultaneous musical elements, his vigor and charm and technical ability, his care with subtlety and nuance and singing slower phrases, are all just great.

I highly recommend this entire set of the piano music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk by Philip Martin.

You may wonder what a British pianist has to say about Gottschalk. Based on this disc, the answer is quite a lot. Philip Martin plays with taste and exemplary technique. He has a complete command of the showier moments in Gottschalk, but he also has a terrific feel for the influences on the composer in Latin American and African American music. Martin can be tender or salubrious when required. One of the highlights of the album is the Souvenir de Porto Rico, based on a march of Puerto Rican peasants that Gottschalk sets with terrific bravura. The recital concludes with The Union, Gottschalk's patriotic potpourri that he played for President and Mrs. Lincoln in 1864. In it, Gottschalk throws in everything including the kitchen sink, and Martin revels in the work's thunder and lightning. The recorded sound, from 1990, is excellent, one of the most realistic CDs of a piano that I've ever heard. For those wanting to sample the true scope of Gottschalk's music, Martin is an excellent tour guide.