Customer Reviews

Marilyn Nonken: American Spiritual - New Piano Works

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4 star:		(1)
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The pivotal works on this lovingly planned disc (all the music was especially written for Nonken)are the Babbitt and Finnissy items.
Allegro Peneroso by Babbitt bubbles over with chirpy melodic motifs ingeniously scattered around the entire keyboard and one is left wondering how all this warmth of spirit could possibly derive from a serial system of any kind.I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to hear the 2nd Piano Concerto which Nonken infectiously refers in her programme notes.
Finnissy's discursive North American Spirituals might've collapsed in less imaginative hands than Nonken but she invests color and nuance where others might simply have forged ahead.
An almost Baroque like clarity peeps through the murky ruminations and wrongly harmonised hymn tunes though the abrupt ending is paradoxiacally less startling than had things resolved more neatly.

From the introspective and at times tragic "Chelsea Square" of Jeff Nichols, the quirky, dancing impetuousness of Babbitt's "Allegro Penseroso" and the flashy virtuosity of Eckardt's "Echoes White Veil," this is a sublimely performed virtuosic feast for the ears. No pianist besides Nonken could bring out the sheer depth of emotion and spirituality contained within these extremely thorny works. Simply put, the pieces and the performance kick major ..., and the sound quality is amazing -- which is to be expected, since the producer is the Great Judith Sherman. This is music to be returned to, and returned to often, as I have done so myself.

From the introspective and at times tragic "Chelsea Square" of Jeff Nichols, the quirky, dancing impetuousness of Babbitt's "Allegro Penseroso" and the flashy virtuosity of Eckardt's "Echoes White Veil," this is a sublimely performed virtuosic feast for the ears. No pianist besides Nonken could bring out the sheer depth of emotion and spirituality contained within these extremely thorny works. Simply put, the pieces and the performance kick major butt, and the sound quality is amazing -- which is to be expected, since the producer is the Great Judith Sherman. This is music to be returned to, and returned to often, as I have done so myself.