Ursula Oppens, Jerome Lowenthal - Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!; Four Hands (2015)

Grammy-nominated New-music icon Ursula Oppens, who commissioned, premiered, and made the first recording of maverick American composer Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, a remarkable, monumental set of solo piano variations, has re-recorded that landmark 1975 work with Grammy winning producer Judith Sherman to mark the work’s 40th anniversary.

This riveting, audience-pleasing tour-de-force is a nearly hour-long set of 36 variations on a popular Chilean protest song from the era of Augusto Pinochet’s repressive right-wing military dictatorship. AllMusic.com applauds it as a work “of bewildering and amazing variety, ranging from serialism to jazz to romanticism to the further reaches of the avant-garde and back” and culminating in “a superbly emotional climax.”

Oppens’ world-premiere recording of The People United Will Never Be Defeated! was released in 1978 by Vanguard on analog LP and later reissued on CD. This new recording offers the advantages of Cedille’s 21st-century audiophile production values and an interpretation that benefits from Oppens’s four-decade association with the work.

Another bonus is the world-premiere recording of a new Rzewski work, Four Hands, a duet commissioned by and written for Oppens and pianist Jerome Lowenthal, her duet partner on the recording. Fiercely challenging to perform, it leaves the listener “absorbed and exhilarated” (New York Times).

Composer: Frederic Rzewski
Performer: Ursula Oppens, Jerome Lowenthal

Frederic Rzewski wrote his monumental variation set based on Sergio Ortega’s Chilean resistance anthem song “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido” for pianist Ursula Oppens, who premiered it in 1976 and made its first recording a few years later. It’s a fine performance in and of itself, yet Oppens’ stupendous new 2014 recording for Cedille surpasses the earlier version in every respect.

The opening theme, for starters, is more impassioned at its loud peaks, while the first six variations gain energy and character through Oppens’ heightened sense of voice leading. The dissonant grace note effect of Variation 7’s two-against-three rhythmic patterns is clearer than what many pianists make of it, while Variation 9’s counterpoint benefits from Oppens’ drier, more cogently contoured rethinking.

Variation 10’s splattered, Boulez-like gestures and zigzagging glissandos may not transpire so “recklessly” as the composer indicates, yet the inner logic of his meticulous dynamic markings comes out in Oppens’ faithful rendition. Variation 15’s improvisatory, folk-song-like quality spills over into more elaborate territory in Variation 16. Most pianists (Rzewski included) sustain a similar mood and tone between these two variations. Not Oppens, whose feathery pianissimos and una corda pedal deployment at No. 16’s outset create a magical tonal shift that accurately reflects what’s marked in the score.

Variation 19’s jagged motives, so often pounded out on the same dynamic and emotional level, convey a playful, conversational repartée. Young speed demons who insanely blur their way through Variation 21’s relentless finger twisters have no clue of the wonderful harmonic content that Oppens’ “sanely” fast fingers bring out. However, one can argue that Oppens’ faster and lighter treatment of Variations 26 and 28 plays down the music’s grim, march-like gravitas in contrast to Rzewski’s slower, sharper-edged interpretation. Just before the theme returns, Rzewski gives pianists the option to improvise a cadenza; Oppens’ first recording didn’t include one. Here, the pianist’s short, lyrical, and absolutely lovely improvisation incorporates ideas from Variation 25.

Overall, Oppens’ virtuosity, musicality, and insightful inspiration add up to the most gratifying People United on disc, alongside Rzewski’s own 1986 HatArt label recording (out-of-print on CD, but available as a download). The recorded premiere of Rzewski’s more recent and delightfully inventive Four Hands features Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal relishing the music’s tricky rhythmic hockets, airy contrapuntal traps, fleeting allusions to Romantic fare, and jazzy final fugue with masterful glee. No lover of 20th- and 21st-century piano music should miss this important release.

Tracklist:

The People United will never be Defeated
1. Theme: With determination 00:01:20
2. Variation 1: Weaving: delicate but firm 00:00:50
3. Variation 2: With firmness 00:00:52
4. Variation 3: Slightly slower, with expressive nuances (quarter note = ca. 88) 00:01:09
5. Variation 4: Marcato - With determination 00:00:59
6. Variation 5: Dreamlike, frozen 00:01:02
7. Variation 6: Same tempo as beginning 00:01:07
8. Variation 7: Tempo (Lightly, impatiently) 00:00:58
9. Variation 8: With agility; not too much pedal; crisp 00:01:08
10. Variation 9: half note = 48, Evenly 00:01:00
11. Variation 10: Comodo, recklessly (quarter note = 96) 00:01:00
12. Variation 11: Tempo I (quarter note = 106) 00:00:58
13. Variation 12 00:01:09
14. Variation 13: quarter note = 72 or slightly faster 00:01:34
15. Variation 14: A bit faster, optimistically 00:01:34
16. Variation 15: Flexible, like an improvisation 00:01:14
17. Variation 16 00:01:21
18. Variation 17: L.H. strictly half note = 36, R.H. freely, roughly as in space 00:01:00
19. Variation 18: quarter note = 72 00:01:26
20. Variation 19: dotted quarter note = 144, With energy 00:00:37
21. Variation 20: Crisp, precise, quarter note = 144 00:00:35
22. Variation 21: quarter note = 108, Relentless, uncompromising 00:00:53
23. Variation 22: quarter note = 132 00:00:48
24. Variation 23: As fast as possible, with some rubato 00:00:28
25. Variation 24: quarter note = 72 00:02:00
26. Variation 25: quarter note = ca. 84, with fluctuations 00:01:55
27. Variation 26: quarter note = 168, In a militant manner 00:01:09
28. Variation 27: (quarter note = 72) Tenderly, and with a hopeful expression 00:04:46
29. Variation 28: quarter note = 160 00:01:22
30. Variation 29: quarter note = 144 - 152 00:00:32
31. Variation 30: (quarter note = 84) 00:02:18
32. Variation 31: (quarter note = 106) 00:00:55
33. Variation 32 00:00:57
34. Variation 33 00:00:58
35. Variation 34 00:01:02
36. Variation 35 00:01:03
37. Variation 36 00:01:22
38. Cadenza 00:02:38
39. Thema: Tempo I 00:02:40
Four Hands
40. I. quarter note = 96 - 104 00:06:06
41. II. senza misura (ca. 30 seconds per line) 00:03:14
42. III. quarter note = 72 00:01:28
43. IV. quarter note = 96 00:05:05