Works by William Bolcom & Stefan Wolpe (1988)

This is the second of two volumes of Twelve Etudes by William Bolcom, which were originally written for Paul Jacobs, whose untimely death in 1983 brought the project to a halt. Bolcom has now completed the set and extended the dedication to include the pianists John Musto and Marc-André Hamelin. The career of William Bolcom (b 1938) has led him from the West Coast (Mills College and Stanford University) to Paris (Milhaud and Messiaen) and New York in the late 1960s, where he contributed to the ragtime revival. Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972) began his life as a composer writing "music for the struggle" in the late 1920s against the rise of Hitler. Battle Piece was to have been the first of a series of works for solo piano entitled Encouragements, a project Wolpe began in 1942, during the darkest days of World War II. On the title page of the first version, Wolpe wrote: "Battles, hopes, difficulties/new battles, new hopes, no difficulties." Thus Battle Piece belongs to the genre of Kampfmusik that forms such an important part of his life's work. Hamelin weaves through these disparate pieces with astonishing ease.

Tracklist

William Bolcom
Twelve New Etudes

Book I:
1. Fast, furious
2. Récitatif
3. Mirrors

Book II:
1. Scène d'opéra
2. Butterflies, hummingbirds
3. Nocturne

Book III:
1. Premonitions
2. Rag infernal (Syncopes apocalyptiques)
3. Invention

Book IV:
1. Vers le silence
2. Hi-jinks
3. Hymne à l'amour

Stefan Wolpe
Battle Piece

1. Quasi presto
2. Molto sostenuto
3. Con moto ma non troppo
4. Vivo
5. Moderato
6. Con brio
7. Allegro non troppo

Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Winner of the 1985 Carnegie Hall
International American Music Competition for Pianists

New World Records 80354