Bernstein: Complete Solo Piano Music / Tozzetti

$14.99
Label
Piano Classics
Release Date
May 24, 2019
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BERNSTEIN, LEONARD
    • PERFORMER
      Michele Tozzetti
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      May 24, 2019
    • UPC
      5029365101745
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      PCL10174
    • LABEL
      Piano Classics
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. I. —

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    2. II. —

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    3. Touches

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    4. No. 1. Ilana, the Dreamer

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    5. No. 2. Idele, the Chassidele

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    6. No. 3. Yosi, the Jokester

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    7. No. 4. Dina, the Tomboy Who Weeps Alone

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    8. No. 1. For Felicia Montealegre

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    9. No. 2. For Johnny Mehegan

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    10. No. 3. For David Diamond

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    11. No. 4. For Helen Coates

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    12. No. 1. For Elizabeth Rudolf

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    13. No. 2. For Lucas Foss

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    14. No. 3. For Elizabeth B. Ehrman

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    15. No. 4. For Sandy Gellhorn

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    16. No. 5. For Susanna Kyle

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    17. No. 1. For Aaron Copland

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    18. No. 2. For My Sister, Shirley

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    19. No. 3. In Memoriam: Alfred Eisner

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    20. No. 4. For Paul Bowles

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    21. No. 5. In Memoriam: Nathalie Koussevitzky

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    22. No. 6. For Sergei Koussevitzky

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    23. No. 7. For William Schuman

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    24. Non Troppo Presto, "Music for the Dance No. 1"

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    25. I. Moderato

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    26. II. Waltz Time

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    27. III. Allegro non troppo, with force

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    28. No. 1. For Shirley Gabis Rhoads Perle

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    29. No. 2. In Memoriam: William Kapell

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    30. No. 3. For Stephen Sondheim

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    31. No. 4. For Craig Urquhart

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    32. No. 5. For Leo Smit

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    33. No. 6. For My Daughter, Nina

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    34. No. 7. In Memoriam: Helen Coates

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    35. No. 8. In Memoriam: Goddard Lieberson

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    36. No. 9. For Jessica Fleischmann

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    37. No. 10. In Memoriam: Constance Hope

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    38. No. 11. For Felicia, on our 28th Birthday (and her 52nd)

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    39. No. 12. For Aaron Stern

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti

    40. No. 13. In Memoriam: Ellen Goetz

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Performer: Michele Tozzetti


Bernstein's piano output reflects the various strands of his multifaceted personality, in works as different as Touches (1981) and, at the other end of the scale, his often tender, sentimental Anniversaries. Taken together his piano works form a musical diary tracing the breadth of his experiences and ideas. Four of his Five Anniversaries (1949-51) appear as themes in his violin concerto, the Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium.” The personal commemorations he created were not portraits so much as self-portrayals, revealing different aspects of his own multi-faceted personality. To play these works well requires an understanding of the various elements that made up the Bernstein persona.

The Italian pianist Michele Tozzetti brings out the heartfelt tenderness of most of these tributes, the Jewish elements and the dance rhythms. In the Anniversary dedicated to Aaron Copland (in Seven Anniversaries, 1943), Tozzetti captures the sound and spirit of the man Bernstein called ‘my first friend in New York, my master, my idol, my sage, my shrink, my guide, my counselor, my elder brother, [and] my beloved friend.’ The pianist reveals a delicate sense of sonority along with fine dynamic control in For Paul Bowles, and brings an idiomatic edginess to For Sergei Koussevitzky. He also injects youthful vigor into Bernstein’s Sonata (1937), a probing work rich in counterpoint, written when the composer was still a student. Also on this recording are Non Troppo Presto, a manuscript discovered in the Leonard Bernstein archive at the Library of Congress; and Touches: Chorale, Eight Variations and Coda, commissioned by the Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 1981. Its bluesy chorale is identical to Virgo Blues, written for his daughter, Jamie on her twenty-sixth birthday in 1978. Bernstein dedicated this work ‘to my first love, the keyboard’. In Michele Tozzetti’s hands, that love is beautifully realized.

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REVIEW:

When you put it all together, there is a great deal to enjoy in Leonard Bernstein’s piano music. The Sonata, Music for the Dance, and Touches are strikingly stark and crunchy. The Sabras and Anniversaries are more personal and lyrical. The contrast between modernism and Bernstein’s more familiar nostalgic tunefulness is striking. The young pianist Michele Tozzetti plays with a deft touch and sharp articulation. As a bonus, one gets to read the superb program annotation of Stuart Isacoff, author of a wonderful new book on Van Cliburn.

– American Record Guide (Jack Sullivan)