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Discography Amy Beach: Z6747 “Here’s MY Take on the Best:”
Pianist Joanne Polk and continued her tribute to American composer
Amy Beach(1867-1944)with a riveting performance of the almost
Brahmsian Piano Concerto of 1899. Paul Goodwin conducts the English
Chamber Orchestra. The talented women of the Lark Quartet join
Polk for Beach’s more modern sounding Piano Quintet of
1907(Arabesque 6738). Through recordings of Beach’s piano music for
Arabesque, Joanne Polk has been (a) champion. Two full-length,
meaty works make up the CD: the Piano Concerto The third in the Arabesque label’s survey of
Beach’s work, all featuring the esteemed pianist Joanne Polk,
gives us two of this composer’s major pieces, the Piano Concerto
and Piano Quintet. The richness of Beach’s late-romantic
style, with its passionate melodies and Opulent harmony, is compelling
in both works. The Quintet is shorter, more evenly balanced and
tightly constructed, yet no less brilliant in its chamber ambience
than the Concerto is orchestrally. Its themes are quite beautiful
and its emotional contours are very listener-involving. The performances
by Polk and the Lark String Quartet is the best I have heard. Both
works ought to be in the standard repertoire ; and this CD makes
a very compelling case for them. Beach’s Quintet was once a wildly popular piece
that fell into oblivion for quite awhile and is now finally being
played and recorded again…The playing here is spectacular,
as is the balance on the recording…The quartet’s handling
of the difficult modulations to keys that cannot even be held by
a key signature is admirable, as are their wonderful colors in
the muted beginning of II. Listening to the Quintet, is like discovering an
unknown Brahms piece. Polk is a fine up-and-coming pianist and
the Lark Quartet are marvelously sympathetic to this work-I am
happy to know it and them. Volume Four of (Arabesque’s) marvelous survey
of the music of Beach is a spirited pairing of her c-sharp minor
Piano Concerto and the f-sharp monir Paino Quintet. The compositional
craft is first-rate…record buyers can now enjoy the music-and
perhaps, might inspire them to encourage more performances of her
works. These beautifully recorded performances cast fresh
light on two of Amy Beach’s most played works. The quartet’s
playing is appropriately American in its lushness, with generous
use of portamento that is entirely in period. At her best, Beach
is a composer of true distinction, fully deserving of Polk’s
warm and sensitive musicianship. Joanne Polk and The Lark Quartet team up for a radiantly
perceptive account of Amy Beach’s masterly Piano Quintet.
Theirs is a notably thoughtful conception…music-making of
rapt poetry and exquisite tenderness dominates the progress of
the lovely Andante espressivo, while the Finale is as joyously
articulate as one could hope to hear. Sound and balance are first-class. The Piano Quintet of 1905 is in essence a chamber
concerto. Polk plays with a wonderfully warm sound and with the
devotion that Beach deserves. ..the Lark Quartet lends to the Quintet
a huge variety of subtle shades as well as a gripping sense of
drama. Arabesque’s Fifth disc of music by Amy Beach
offers superb performances of some of the composer’s most
enchanting chamber works. Performed by pianist Joanne Polk with
the Lark Quartet, Morning Glories reminds listeners why Beach was
so popular in her day. These performances by the Beach specialist Joanne
Polk and the Lark Quartet are exemplary, as is the recording. So
if you already have Beach’s superb Piano Quintet in your
collection, and are keen to discover more, this is the obvious
next step.
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