Leo Ornstein Piano Music: Suicide on an Airplane / La Chinoise / Poems of 1917, Op. 41 / Arabesques (9), Op. 42 / Piano Sonata No. 8 [IMPORT]

Leo Ornstein (Composer), Marc Andre Hamelin (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Marc Andre Hamelin
• Composer: Leo Ornstein
• Audio CD (October 8, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B00006B1LA
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,639 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Suicide In An Airplane

2. A La Chinoise, Op.39

3. Danse Sauvage, Op.13 No.2

4. No.1. No Man's Land - Andante Espressivo

5. No.2. The Sower Of Despair - Moderato

6. No.3. The Orient In Flanders - Andantino (Molto Espressivo)

7. No.4. The Wrath Of The Despoiled - Sostenuto (Molto Appassionato)

8. No.5. Night Brooding Over The Battlefield - Moderato E Misterioso

9. No.6. A Dirge Of The Trenches - Lento

10. No.7. Song Behind The Lines - Andante Con Moto E Malinconioso

11. No.8. The Battle - Allegro E Molto Appassionato

12. No.9. Army At Prayer - Allegro, Ma Non Troppo

13. No.10. Dance Of The Dead - Vivo (Con Fuoco)

14. No.1. The Isle Of Elephantine

15. No.2. Primal Echo

16. No.3. Chant Of Hindoo Priests

17. No.4. Shadowed Waters

18. No.5. A Melancholy Landscape

19. No.6. Pompeian Fresco

20. No.7. Passion

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Leo Ornstein is one of music's originals. He died in 2002, purportedly at 109 years of age, and he was composing almost to the end. His music is an odd mixture of atmospheric impressionism, acerbic Russian Futurism, savagely powerful poundings, and delicate filigree--prime material for Marc-André Hamelin's virtuosic pianism. Ornstein had a penchant for quirky titles, such as Suicide in an Airplane. Written in 1919--not, as one might think, after September 11, 2001--Suicide weirdly captures a contemporary mood with its ominous opening suggesting the hum of an engine, and the chaos that follows. The short works range from the avant-garde eruption of Danse sauvage, to a picturesque sound impression of San Francisco's Chinatown. The Arabesques are a set of diverse miniatures, some impressionistic, some recalling Scriabin; others are concise étudelike tests of pianistic prowess. The big work on the program is the half-hour long Sonata, completed when Ornstein was in his late 90s. It's full of bold harmonies, slashing attacks, gorgeous moments of lyrical repose, and off-center humor. This is fascinating music brilliantly played. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good survey of the music of a interesting minor composer, December 1, 2003

By	Edward Wright (Toronto, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This may well be the first CD ever to contain music from both the 1910s and 1990s that was written by the same composer. Such was the life of the Russian-born American composer Leo Ornstein, who went--in a handful of years--from being a refugee from anti-Semitism to one of the highest-profile of the early-20th century Futurists. With the collapse of that movement, Ornstein retreated into obscurity, and lost interest in composition for many years. Fortunately, in later life he began to compose again, and his last work, the Eighth Sonata (on this disc) was written in his late 90s.

Much of this disc is taken up with early works, which give us a good idea of the range--and limitations--of Ornstein's Futurist period. Best of these pieces are the short pieces Suicide in an Airplane--four minutes of descriptive near-minimalism--and the ferociously aggressive Danse sauvage, but there is still much to be gained from the rhapsodic, dissonant impressionism of Impressions de la Tamise and the unusually aggressive Orientalism of A la Chinoise.

Less impressive are the two sets of short pieces, Poems of 1917 and Arabesques. It's perhaps not surprising that the Poems are consistently brutal works--inspired as they were by the slaughter that was going on in the trenches in Europe at that point--but the Arabesques are also rather more limited than their title would indicate: once again dissonances and motor rhythms dominate almost all else.

Much stronger is the Eighth Piano Sonata, which sounds like 1920s or 1930s music even although the composer completed it in 1990. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating, if perhaps overly-eclectic work--the style varying from Rachmaninovian melody to Bartokian harmonies to reminiscences of Ornstein's own earlier barbarism. The first movement is a wide-ranging 14 minutes that explores a very wide variety of moods and colours; the second--and weakest--movement is a rather discursive set of memories; the finale rhapsodic, with a powerful close.

This disc does Ornstein a valuable service, since he is a composer more talked about that performed. While some of the pieces are rather weak, the Sonata, Suicide in an Airplane and Danse sauvage should be heard by any fans of early 20th century music or of virtuoso piano music in general. Hamelin's performances are extremely virtuosic, though occasionally I found his unremittingly hard tone a problem (the composer probably should take his share of the blame for this, though I've noticed this aspect of Hamelin's playing in other recordings too): nonetheless they are greatly to be preferred to Janice Weber on Naxos in the other easily available collection of Ornstein's piano music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best classical CDs I have ever heard, May 23, 2003

By A Customer

It is shameful that Ornstein sank into obscurity after a brief period of fame early in the century. His music is simply magnificent, especially the piano quintet, but his solo piano music is so stunning, that it is hard to find the right adjective. Anyone who loves modern classical music should buy this. It is one of the greatest collections of piano composition I have ever heard. Ditto for the Janice Weber piano collection on Naxos, and check out the piano quintet too! Ornstein's works have not been widely performed and recorded, so keep eyes peeled. His hammering, forceful piano concerto needs to be recorded also. Perhaps Hamelin will pick that one up as well.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The four stars are for the performance, not the music, January 2, 2003

By	J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'd heard of Leo Ornstein as long ago as the 1950s. I knew he had been an avant garde composer and an activist/publicist for it and for advanced composers way back in the 1920s. I knew that he lived to be more than 100 years old. I knew that he'd been described as a 'Futurist'. But I'd never heard a note of his music. And since I buy everything that Marc-André Hamelin records, I bought this one.

I've tried, I've really tried, to get inside the music. But so help me I can't. It does have a certain descriptive quality that works; the 'Suicide in an Airplane', for instance, does indeed go into a tailspin and crash. But for the life of me I can't see the purpose of this brutal style of composition; it makes Ives at his most discordant sound like a pantywaist. I will doff my hat to Hamelin for taking it on, and I'll bet these are the best performances these pieces are likely to receive any time soon, and surely if anyone could make a listener accept the music, Hamelin could. But not me. I'm willing to chalk it up to my own deficiencies.

Be warned, this is not easy music. It is not pretty music. It often sounds like someone banging out his impression of chinoiserie, or a plane crash, or some wild men dancing in an abandoned manner.

Not for the unadventurous.