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Uruguayan pianist Polly Ferman has made a specialty of the piano music of South America. Her previous CDs of music by
Ernesto Nazareth and
Ernesto Lecuona were thoroughly delightful. Now she offers a wide-ranging program of mostly brief, dance-based piano music in forms from South America, although written by composers from many countries. You have to follow the track listing inside the booklet (the listing on the tray card is virtually illegible) to find out whether the delightful piece you are hearing was written by Gottschalk, Chabrier, Stravinsky, Weill, or Ginastera. But whatever the music, it's all entertaining and sometimes (as with Piazzolla) considerably more than that. Ferman's playing encompasses all these styles convincingly, and the recording conveys the piano sound with considerable realism. Romeo needs to clean up its presentation; aside from the badly-designed tray card, the pianist's biography comes right in the middle of the program notes on the music. But for its contents, this is the most entertaining piano collection since Gloria Cheng's
Piano Dance and it's highly recommended.
--Leslie Gerber