From the Label
Lynn Harting-Ware is heard hear in a tone beyond comparison. Her version of the Goldberg Variations is eurethral and spiritual. Collectors of Bach will love her sensitivity, sense of line and independent voicing. Other pieces on the disc, such as Forest Scenes, find her aggressive and powerful in command of virtuoso effects.
Product Description
In 1741, Bach wrote the Aria and 30 variations that comprise the Goldberg Variations. Described by Glenn Gould as ^Sthirty very interesting but independent-minded pieces^T, this work has become legendary in its virtuoso technical and interpretative requirements. Kenneth Gilbert describes it as ^Sa gigantic chaconne^T. However one thinks of this magnificent work, it is spellbinding in it beauty.
Forest Scenes is a suite of three pieces with the general theme of nature. North Face opens boldly with brush strokes and snap pizzicato suggesting a violent wind. Later, a quiet tremolo evokes a sense of calm, but the tension mounts again building to its climax. Hibiscus on the Water contrasts in its pure lyricism. As a long-breathed melody unwinds over an undulating accompaniment, the music captures the beauty of fresh hibiscus blooms. Woodchuck Blues is a playful piece. Drawing from blues and jazz styles, syncopation, hemiola, blue notes and pizzicato combine to create a piece with real personality and pizzazz. Hebraic Contrasts is a collection of four movements extending from a piece recorded in 1990. Notable in Rollin^Rs style is the use of compound melody where the melodic line is displaced an octave or more. As this occurs, new lines emerge in contrasting registers, frequently resulting in a two-part dialogue punctuated with chords. Jewish folk melodies are interspersed in the second and fourth movements and add a sense of freshness and rhythmic vitality. Reverie and March was composed for a series of concerts in 1994 and is dedicated to my friend and colleague Gerhard Samuel. Inspired by the Berlioz Symphonie fantasique with its Dies Irae theme, I was impelled to bring the theme to the guitar in the Reverie.. The March presents a new theme in the upper voice, accompanied initially with free counterpoint and then with punctuating chords. A chromatic, rhythmic motive marks the phrases. The B section explores the March theme in a new melodic/rhythmic guise before the abridged return and closing chords. Drone is a study piece with driving energy and spirit. Richard Smoot derives it from the third movement of the Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra.
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