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BIS

The World Of Crawford-Seeger / Jenny Lin, Timothy Jones

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Details

Composer
CRAWFORD (SEEGER), RUTH
Artist
Jenny, Lin
Format
CD
Label
BIS
Released
Dec 01, 2001
Catalog #
BIS-CD-1310
UPC
7318590013106

About


Pianist Jenny Lin, in her second release for BIS, scores with a program that's as substantial and historically important as her first (Chinoiserie) was entertaining and amusing. Ruth Crawford Seeger commands respect for a number of reasons: as one of the first significant American woman composers; as a representative of the progressive school in the first decades of the last century; and not least as an ethnomusicologist and expert on American folksong. This first CD devoted entirely to the original piano works (there are also numerous folksong arrangements) not only contains several world premieres but also permits us to see the composer's achievement whole, in all its variety. Just as importantly, while some of these pieces have enjoyed previous recordings, Lin's performances equal or better the competition in every case.


The pieces here fall into two broad categories: first, lightly diverting character pieces of conservative cast (Little Waltz, Little Lullaby, Caprice, Jumping the Rope, Whirligig), some composed with a pedagogical purpose (We Dance Together, Mr. Crow and Miss Wren Go for a Walk--A little study in short trills); second, more exploratory works that take notice of various more modern trends such as impressionistic or chromatic harmony, free atonality, expressionism, and complex rhythms. These are the pieces that offer the pianist real technical and interpretive opportunities, and Lin makes the most of them. In a transitional work such as the Sonata of 1923, her bravura attack on the music's eruptive elements traces the emergence of Crawford Seeger's mature style with the same clarity with which we can see a painter like Mondrian beginning to reduce traditional or naturalistic forms and images to a few basic, abstract lines. The Theme and Variations from the same year continues this process, offering Lin scope for some brilliantly clear finger work (in the first variation especially) and Lisztian display.


In the marvelous Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme, Lin simply outplays Virginia Eskin (Albany), offering both greater structural integration and more physical excitement. The Nine Preludes, Crawford Seeger's most popular keyboard works, appear here in two groups of five and four respectively, this second batch incorporating for the first time unpublished corrections to the printed text in the composer's own hand. Sarah Cahill recently recorded an outstanding version of the preludes for New Albion, and her smoother tone and magical pianissimos complement Lin's more sinewy, highly contrasted approach. In the Eighth Prelude, for example, Lin takes a bit more time than Cahill but also offers a greater range of tempo and dynamics. Lin adds to her program all three possible versions of the challenging Piano Study in Mixed Accents (though they are listed in the booklet in the wrong order), and plays them perfectly.


The program concludes with The Adventures of Tom Thumb for narrator and piano, a delightful piece in the same vein as Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf--or (more aptly) Poulenc's The Story of Babar the Little Elephant (dating from 1925, Tom Thumb actually precedes both chronologically). The composer's daughter, Peggy Seeger, completed the text especially for this recording, while Lin and narrator Timothy Jones enthusiastically chart the story's progress in words and tones. Toss in excellent recorded sound, very informative notes (though the tray card misidentifies some of the premieres), and the result is a 75-minute-long program that combines both revealing scholarship and care in repertoire selection with musicianship of the very highest caliber.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 33 tracks

  1. 1 Little Waltz 01:19
    Track
    1
    Title
    Little Waltz
    Duration
    01:19
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  2. 2 Little Lullaby 00:48
    Track
    2
    Title
    Little Lullaby
    Duration
    00:48
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  3. 3 Jumping the Rope (Playtime) 00:54
    Track
    3
    Title
    Jumping the Rope (Playtime)
    Duration
    00:54
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  4. 4 Caprice 02:14
    Track
    4
    Title
    Caprice
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  5. 5 Whirligig 00:55
    Track
    5
    Title
    Whirligig
    Duration
    00:55
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  6. 6 Mr Crow and Miss Wren Go for a Walk - A Little Study in Short Trills 00:40
    Track
    6
    Title
    Mr Crow and Miss Wren Go for a Walk - A Little Study in Short Trills
    Duration
    00:40
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  7. 7 Piano Sonata 05:41
    Track
    7
    Title
    Piano Sonata
    Duration
    05:41
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  8. 8 Theme and Variations 07:08
    Track
    8
    Title
    Theme and Variations
    Duration
    07:08
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  9. 9 I. 01:31
    Track
    9
    Title
    I.
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  10. 10 II. 00:36
    Track
    10
    Title
    II.
    Duration
    00:36
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  11. 11 III. 01:25
    Track
    11
    Title
    III.
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  12. 12 IV. 00:26
    Track
    12
    Title
    IV.
    Duration
    00:26
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  13. 13 V. 01:05
    Track
    13
    Title
    V.
    Duration
    01:05
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  14. 14 Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme 09:18
    Track
    14
    Title
    Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme
    Duration
    09:18
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  15. 15 Prelude No. 1 01:05
    Track
    15
    Title
    Prelude No. 1
    Duration
    01:05
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  16. 16 Prelude No. 2 01:54
    Track
    16
    Title
    Prelude No. 2
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  17. 17 Prelude No. 3 02:46
    Track
    17
    Title
    Prelude No. 3
    Duration
    02:46
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  18. 18 Prelude No. 4 03:11
    Track
    18
    Title
    Prelude No. 4
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  19. 19 Prelude No. 5 02:12
    Track
    19
    Title
    Prelude No. 5
    Duration
    02:12
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  20. 20 Prelude No. 6 02:35
    Track
    20
    Title
    Prelude No. 6
    Duration
    02:35
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  21. 21 Prelude No. 7 01:59
    Track
    21
    Title
    Prelude No. 7
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  22. 22 Prelude No. 8 02:11
    Track
    22
    Title
    Prelude No. 8
    Duration
    02:11
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  23. 23 Prelude No. 9 03:12
    Track
    23
    Title
    Prelude No. 9
    Duration
    03:12
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  24. 24 Version 1 00:58
    Track
    24
    Title
    Version 1
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  25. 25 Version 2 00:58
    Track
    25
    Title
    Version 2
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  26. 26 Version 3 01:00
    Track
    26
    Title
    Version 3
    Duration
    01:00
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  27. 27 We Dance Together 00:42
    Track
    27
    Title
    We Dance Together
    Duration
    00:42
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  28. 28 Tom Sets Out 01:39
    Track
    28
    Title
    Tom Sets Out
    Duration
    01:39
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  29. 29 Tom's First Adventure: Chased By the Angry Tailor's Wife 01:30
    Track
    29
    Title
    Tom's First Adventure: Chased By the Angry Tailor's Wife
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  30. 30 Tom's Second Adventure: Stealing the King's Dollars 02:01
    Track
    30
    Title
    Tom's Second Adventure: Stealing the King's Dollars
    Duration
    02:01
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  31. 31 Tom's Third Adventure: Sleeping in a Mousehole 03:19
    Track
    31
    Title
    Tom's Third Adventure: Sleeping in a Mousehole
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  32. 32 Tom Meets the Mouse: They Gallop Home 01:34
    Track
    32
    Title
    Tom Meets the Mouse: They Gallop Home
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger
  33. 33 Tom Recounts his Adventures 02:46
    Track
    33
    Title
    Tom Recounts his Adventures
    Duration
    02:46
    Composer
    Ruth Crawford Seeger