Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait

Joan Huang (Composer), William Albright (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Samuel Adler (Composer), Paul Hindemith (Composer), Bohuslav Martinu (Composer), Gyorgy Ligeti (Composer), Bela Bartok (Composer), Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Samuel Barber (Composer), Per Norgard (Composer), Leo Ornstein (Composer), Alexander Scriabin (Composer), Francis Poulenc (Composer), Maurice Ravel (Composer), George Antheil (Composer), Philip Glass (Composer), Henry Cowell (Composer), Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Federico Mompou (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Joan Huang, William Albright, Claude Debussy, Samuel Adler, Paul Hindemith, et al.
• Audio CD (July 25, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B00004UEKB
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,636 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Red Ribbon Dance

2. Sleepwalker's Shuffle

3. Golliwog's Cakewalk

4. Like A Tarantelle

5. Shimmy

6. Polka

7. Hungarian Rock

8. Rumanian Dance

9. Tango

10. Hesitation-Tango

11. A Tortoise's Tango

12. Waltz

13. Mazurka

14. Valse-Improvisation Sur Le Nom De Bach

15. Waltz IV

16. Percussion Dance

17. Modern Love Waltz

18. Lilt of the Reel

19. Rigaudon

20. Cancion Y Danza

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to listen to!, September 17, 2000

By 

Nicholas Bridgman (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait (Audio CD)

Listening to this CD is fun. The CD has a diverse selection of contemporary dances for solo piano, ranging from familiar favorites, such as Gollywog's Cakewalk by Debussy, to lesser known and unconventional but charming works, such as del Aguila's Conga. The dances are varied and well-interpreted by Ms. Cheng, who brings poignancy to each one while maintaining throughout the CD a fun and energetic mood.

Ms. Cheng's playing is phenomenal, and I also enjoy her earlier CD of works by John Adams and Terry Riley. Both CD's show off her rich tone and appealing style, but the dance collection is the most entertaining. If you buy this CD, you'll probably find yourself listening to it frequently.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting concept not quite realized, July 25, 2000

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait (Audio CD)

A very good concept. Take a noted pianist, in this case Gloria Cheng, and work with her on a program of 23 short works or short sections of larger works, all of which are one form or another of Dance--and you might come up with something good or possibly just a mixed bag. The Telarc release <Piano Dances, Gloria Cheng: a 20th Century Portrait> (CD-80549) is such a program. The playing is wonderful, the results what you might expect, alas: a mixed bag.

A very definite positive about this program is that almost every selection was new to me. After all, how many of us are familiar with works like Miguel del Aguila's "Conga," Philip Glass's "Modern Love Reel," or Paul Hindemith's "Shimmy"? I mean, really! So there is much Joy of Discovery afforded by this CD; but with all but one piece running under 5 minutes (and that one at 9:26), a certain cloying factor creeps in after a while, and perhaps I should recommend this be played in small sections.

But all in all, what a treasure-trove of little-known pieces.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Varied, but well blended, October 23, 2011

By 

E. Strickenburg (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait (Audio CD)

This is a highly variegated, yet wonderful collection of 20th century piano music. All of the musical selections relate in some way to the world of dance and are generally quite short in length, but otherwise are extremely diverse. Waltzes, tangos, and mazurkas nestle next to folk dances, ragtime, and percussion dances.

Despite their brevity, the pieces on this album deserve to be truly listened to -- not to just be on as background music. Not that all of the music is difficult or esoteric. There's a nice balance between pieces that are very accessible (such as Martinu's "Polka in E major" and Ornstein's "Waltz #7") and pieces that take a while to understand and warm up to (such as Hindemith's "Shimmy" and Norgard's "Tortoise's Tango"). For understanding the more difficult pieces, the liner notes are very helpful.

Well known composers of the 20th century make an appearance on this album (think Bartok, Stravinsky, Ravel), but they are also joined by less familiar names. I particularly enjoyed being exposed for the first time to the music of Federico Mompou and Miguel del Aguila. Mompou's "Cancion y Danza, No. 6" was lush and lovely. Aguila's striking piece entitled "Conga" was fascinating to listen to.

My favorite piece on the album, however, would have to be Stravinsky's "Tango." The sultry feel of the tango is represented perfectly, which surprised me since the piece is for solo piano. I thought I would have missed the bandoneon. Gloria Cheng executes it magnificently.