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AMERICAN REVERIE: PIANO MUSIC OF HORATIO PARKER
Peter Kairoff, Piano
After decades of relative obscurity, a number of gifted American composers who flourished around the turn of the Twentieth Century are being rediscovered by classical music lovers. After their deaths, composers such as Arthur Foote (1853-1937), Amy Beach (1867-1944), Horatio Parker (1863-1919) and a number of others were dismissed as derivative and minor figures, writers of pale imitations of European art music. But as their works begin to reenter the repertoire with greater frequency, listeners at the turn of the Twenty-first Century are discovering music of great charm, impeccable craftsmanship, and sincere expression.
In fact, these composers of the “New England School” were admired and respected in their day. Parker, for example, as professor of composition and Dean of the School of Music at Yale, enjoyed a reputation as a master of compositional craft, and taught a number of important younger composers, among them Charles Ives. His extensive output includes many large-scale serious works for orchestra, choral anthems, operas, and the oratorio Hota Novissima (1893), which helped establish his reputation internationally. The music on this disc, much of it recorded here for the first time, reveals a different side of Parker, however. These are all “character pieces”: brief, direct sketches in the spirit of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words or Schumann's Fantasy Pieces. They reveal a more intimate Parker, free from academic pretense. This is music for the salon, rather than the university or concert hall.
The Six Lyrics, Opus 25, date from 1891. The original title page contains the curious subtitle “for the piano, without octaves,” and indeed these six charming vignettes never require the performer to play an octave in either hand. Whether this self-imposed obstacle has its origins in pedagogy or marketing, he circumvents the problem very creatively, by often doubling melodic lines between the hands, thus allowing the aural illusion of octaves, without the technical difficulty of playing them with one hand. Each of the pieces is crafted like a song, usually in ternary form (ABA), with a clear and prominent melody throughout. In this, and in the “characteristic” accompanimental figures, they clearly owe a debt to Mendelssohn, a relationship made especially overt in the tenor aria “If With All Your Hearts,” from Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah. In naming the set “Six Lyrics” Parker is surely also recalling the popular Lyric Pieces of Edvard Grieg, the first set of which was published as early as 1867.
The Four Sketches, Opus 19, are decidedly more challenging pianistically and adventurous harmonically than the Opus 25, although the date from a year earlier. In them we find a more distinctive musical voice - music more for the concert platform than for the intimacy of the salon. The pentatonic scale implied by the opening melody of the memorable Nocturne has an “American” feel to it - something which is never evident in the Opus 25. The clever use of the keyboard in the Etude Melodieuse, as the harp-like accompaniment passes from hand to hand, and the sharply drawn character and laconic form of the Scherzino show a composer already at ease with his craft.
The Gavotte, Caprice and Elegie are from the 5 Morceaux Characteristiques of 1886. Essentially student works, they are nevertheless confidently composed and vigorous examples of the Romantic miniature. The Elegie, in particular, demonstrates the astute harmonic control and bold dramatic gestures which can be found in Parker's later works. The Caprice is actually a waltz, and the piano figuration is reminiscent of Chopin. The delightful Valse Gracile, from 1899, is even more Chopinesque than the Caprice, and was frequently included in anthologies of American piano music during the first half of the Twentieth Century.
The reputation of Parker and the other American Romantics suffered a precipitous decline after their deaths, as the new generation of American composers - most notably Parker's student Charles Ives - headed in new directions. But now, from the distance of a century or more, the fact that their works were not ground-breaking seems somehow less important, and we are free to admire the craftsmanship and respond to the sincerity of their wonderful music.
-- Peter Kairoff
A native of Los Angeles, Peter Kairoff received Master's and Doctoral degrees in piano performance from the University of Southern California, and spent two years in Florence, Italy, as a Fulbright Scholar and Rotary International Fellow. His performances in the United States, Europe and South America have received enthusiastic responses from audiences and the press. Associate Professor of Music at Wake Forest University, where he teaches piano, he also serves as Director of their campus in Venice, Italy. His previous recording, “American Romantics” with violinist Sarah Johnson, is also on the Albany label, Troy 150.
To Claudia.
Cover: William Merritt Chase, In The Studio (1884), courtesy of Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC.
Photo of Horatio Parker provided by the Yale University Music Library, Horatio parker Papers.
Recording Engineer: Frank Martin, Media Production Associates
Recorded May 7, 1998, Wake Forest University
Steinway piano courtesy of Piedmont Music Center, Winston-Salem, NC.
Graphic Design: BOINK!, Winston-Salem, NC, 336-725-5517
© Peter Kairoff
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