Griffes: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Composer), Michael Lewin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Michael Lewin
• Composer: Charles Tomlinson Griffes
• Audio CD (January 19, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos American
• ASIN: B00000HZOG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,428 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential American piano music, October 28, 2003

By 

klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Griffes: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

The music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes has a place in musicians', and especially pianists', hearts out of all proportion to its quantity. Michael Lewin has recorded the complete piano music of Griffes on two CDs, of which this is the first. On this CD there are relatively familiar works, such as the Roman Sketches and Sonata, alongside yet-to-be published rarities, such as a charming transcription of Offenbach's Barcarolle, and a lovely Chopinesque Prelude dating from the young composer's fifteenth year (he was to die, alas, only two decades later).

Getting these rare Griffes items alone makes this disc worthwhile, particularly at the Naxos price. That being said, the playing itself is somewhat uneven. In the impassioned, ferocious late Sonata Michael Lewin's extroverted style fits the music perfectly; elsewhere, in the more delicate numbers his approach seems frequently outsize and clangorous. Still, this disc provides a lot of rare and beautiful music at a bargain price.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The good die young..., February 13, 2000

By 

Michael Rindt - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Griffes: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) was, like Schubert, taken from this world way to early. His impressionist style compositions are a match for, while not necessarily mimicking, Debussy, and his Sonata is an extraordinary piece of unique, forward-looking music. He was also something of a rarity in his time - an American composer of highly original talent. Michael Lewin performs Griffes' music with sensitivity and energy. Naxos produces, when one considers the price, some of the highest quality cds money can buy. I highly recommend this selection to all interested in 20th century piano music.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad., October 16, 2010

By 

Steven Schwartz (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Griffes: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

A compendium of Griffes hits. In his too-short life, Griffes wrote an awful lot of piano music for the simple reasons that, as a thoroughly-trained player, he could, that his publisher, G. Schirmer, was willing to take a chance, and that his duties as a more-than-full-time teacher at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York, cut into his composing time. Orchestrating and copying out orchestral parts cost him both time and money. I don't believe he ever made money on any of his orchestral works, although his publisher, of course, made scads. The big work is the Piano Sonata, perhaps his masterpiece -- music so individual that we feel Griffes's loss the more keenly because he died before he could further explore this new musical territory. Griffes, of course, gets labeled as an American Impressionist, but I think that slights him, just as the Impressionist label applies only to some of Debussy. Griffes's Impressionist pieces are finely-made, but they're really at the level of something like "The Dancers of Delphi," rather than "Feux d'artifice" and certainly not "En blanc et noir." Michael Lewin does a good job, as good as anybody I've heard, but I've never heard a pianist give these pieces anything anywhere close to their full due.