Claire Huangci - Made in USA: Gershwin, Beach & Barber (2024)

Presented as ‘An Experiment in Modern Music’ when it was premiered in 1924, Rhapsody in Blue made George Gershwin famous, and he soon set to work on a version for solo piano, recorded here by Claire Huangci. In her first solo disc for Alpha Classics, Claire was keen to celebrate this centenary alongside her roots in America, where she was born, studied music and made her debut as a concert artist at the age of nine. The brilliant improviser and transcriber Earl Wild (1915-2010) took Gershwin’s songs (Liza, Fascinatin’ Rhythm, Somebody Loves Me, I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, Oh, Lady Be Good, The Man I Love) to form the basis of his Seven Virtuoso Etudes for solo piano. Equally virtuosic is the Op. 26 Sonata by Samuel Barber, whom Vladimir Horowitz (who premiered the work in Havana in December 1949) regarded as one of the few Americans capable of writing for the piano. The New Hampshire-born composer Amy Beach took her inspiration from the folk music of both the New World and the Balkans, while retaining her harmonic language inherited from the Romantics. Her Variations Op. 60 (1904) bear witness to these influences.

Tracklist:
01 - Rhapsody in Blue (Solo Piano Version)
02 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Thema. Adagio
03 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation I. Più mosso
04 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation II. Maestoso
05 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation III. Allegro ma non troppo
06 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation IV. Andante alla Barcarola
07 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation V. Largo con molta espressione
08 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation VI. Quasi Fantasia - Allegro all’ Ongarese
09 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation VII. Vivace - Valse lento
10 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Variation VIII. Con vigore - Lento calmato
11 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Marcia funebre
12 - Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60_ Cadenza. Grave - Quasi fantasia
13 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26_ I. Allegro energico
14 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26_ II. Allegro vivace e leggero
15 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26_ III. Adagio mesto
16 - Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26_ IV. Fuga. Allegro con spirito
17 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 1, Liza
18 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 2, Somebody Loves me
19 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 3, The Man I Love
20 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 4, Embraceable You
21 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 5, Lady be Good
22 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 6, I Got Rhythm
23 - 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin_ No. 7, Fasinatin’ Rhythm