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Music Of A Bygone Era / Frank Glazer
Bridge Records

Music Of A Bygone Era / Frank Glazer

$18.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Frank Glazer
Format
CD
Label
Bridge Records
Released
Jun 06, 2006
Catalog #
BCD9194
UPC
090404919428

About

Frank Glazer's rich and varied musical life as touring virtuoso, teacher, music director, television host, annotator, and much else is enough for five careers. The 91-year-old pianist's long resume includes everything from studies with Schnabel and Schoenberg to playing in vaudeville houses and, believe it or not, the Icelandic premiere of Brahms' second piano concerto. At 85, he recorded a recital of once-fashionable/now-frowned-upon encores, the type of repertoire Arthur Loesser used to call "cream of corn". Few pianists today have a genuine feeling for such pieces, save, of course, Earl Wild (Glazer's slightly younger contemporary) and perhaps Stephen Hough or Marc-André Hamelin. However, Glazer's beautiful, robust tone and innate charm are exactly what this music needs.

The disc opens with a curvaceous and ravishingly sung out account of Mendelssohn's Spring Song, followed by Alfred Grünfeld's pretty if overlong Romanze and Grieg's Papillon, which is fuller in body and less cameo-like than we often hear. Glazer pays heed to the inner voices in Godowsky's Alt-Wien, although it doesn't quite attain the tonal magic of Shura Cherkassky's recently reissued 1974 recording. Although Sinding's Rustle of Spring, Moszkowski's E major Waltz, and Rubinstein's Melody in F would benefit from a lighter touch and more rippling accompanimental figures, Glazer's legato scales and subtle tonal shadings--using remarkably little pedal--in Liadov's Musical Snuff-Box are worthy of the old Hofmann and Rosenthal recordings.

Rubinstein's Kamennoi-Ostrow moves too slowly to sustain the music's bland harmonic appeal, while Paderewski's Menuet in G and Macdowell's Witches Dance are a shade heavy-handed and lacking in élan. Glazer accommodates the prevalent thick textures of Dohnanyi's "Nalia" transcription by taking overly slow tempos, yet the pianist's sustaining power prevents them from sounding labored. On the other hand, Glazer's fingers sound 60 years younger in Stephen Heller's fluffy transcription of Schubert's "The Trout", while Liszt's Third Liebestraume is direct, elegant, and free of treacle. All told, a lovely disc.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words) No. 30 in A Major, Op. 62, No. 6, "Fruhlingslied" ("Spring Song") 02:23
    Track
    1
    Title
    Lied ohne Worte (Song without Words) No. 30 in A Major, Op. 62, No. 6, "Fruhlingslied" ("Spring Song")
    Duration
    02:23
    Composer
    Felix Mendelssohn
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  2. 2 Romance, Op. 45, No. 1 06:20
    Track
    2
    Title
    Romance, Op. 45, No. 1
    Duration
    06:20
    Composer
    Alfred Grünfeld
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  3. 3 Triakontameron, 30 moods and scenes in triple measure: No. 11. Alt-Wien 02:36
    Track
    3
    Title
    Triakontameron, 30 moods and scenes in triple measure: No. 11. Alt-Wien
    Duration
    02:36
    Composer
    Leopold Godowsky
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  4. 4 Lyric Pieces, Book 3, Op. 43: No. 1. Sommerfugl (Butterfly) 02:05
    Track
    4
    Title
    Lyric Pieces, Book 3, Op. 43: No. 1. Sommerfugl (Butterfly)
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Edvard Grieg
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  5. 5 6 Pieces, Op. 32: No. 3. Rustle of Spring 02:22
    Track
    5
    Title
    6 Pieces, Op. 32: No. 3. Rustle of Spring
    Duration
    02:22
    Composer
    Christian Sinding
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  6. 6 3 Morceaux, Op. 34: No. 1. Waltz in E Major 08:26
    Track
    6
    Title
    3 Morceaux, Op. 34: No. 1. Waltz in E Major
    Duration
    08:26
    Composer
    Moritz Moszkowski
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  7. 7 Melodie in F Major, Op. 3, No. 1 04:54
    Track
    7
    Title
    Melodie in F Major, Op. 3, No. 1
    Duration
    04:54
    Composer
    Anton Rubinstein
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  8. 8 Muzikal'naya tabakerka (A Musical Snuffbox), Op. 32 02:09
    Track
    8
    Title
    Muzikal'naya tabakerka (A Musical Snuffbox), Op. 32
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Anatoly Lyadov
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  9. 9 Kamenniy-ostrov (Rocky Island), Op. 10: No. 22. Reve Angelique 08:45
    Track
    9
    Title
    Kamenniy-ostrov (Rocky Island), Op. 10: No. 22. Reve Angelique
    Duration
    08:45
    Composer
    Anton Rubinstein
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  10. 10 2 Klavierstucke, Op. 1: No. 2. Minuetto in G Minor 04:21
    Track
    10
    Title
    2 Klavierstucke, Op. 1: No. 2. Minuetto in G Minor
    Duration
    04:21
    Composer
    Ignacy Jan Paderewski
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  11. 11 Liebestraume, S541/R211: No. 3. Nocturne in A-Flat Major 05:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    Liebestraume, S541/R211: No. 3. Nocturne in A-Flat Major
    Duration
    05:06
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  12. 12 2 Fantasiestücke, Op. 17: No. 2. Hexentanz 03:13
    Track
    12
    Title
    2 Fantasiestücke, Op. 17: No. 2. Hexentanz
    Duration
    03:13
    Composer
    Edward MacDowell
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  13. 13 Melodies de Schubert: Die Forelle, Op. 33 05:42
    Track
    13
    Title
    Melodies de Schubert: Die Forelle, Op. 33
    Duration
    05:42
    Composer
    Stephen Heller
    Performer
    Frank Glazer
  14. 14 La source, ou Naila: Waltz (arr. E. Dohnanyi for piano) 10:10
    Track
    14
    Title
    La source, ou Naila: Waltz (arr. E. Dohnanyi for piano)
    Duration
    10:10
    Composer
    Léo Delibes
    Performer
    Frank Glazer