Search - Sergey Rachmaninov, Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt :: Piano Favorites

Fine Collection of Piano Classics!

James Yelvington | USA | 09/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD brings together a good number (17) of the most favored classical pieces prepared and played by piano students by the millions all over the world for lessons, for recitals, and, most importantly, simply for pleasure. The pieces also have been familiar to, and loved by, music listeners everywhere for many years; nearly all are standard offerings by concert artists in professional appearances and recordings, as well. Because of their wide popularity and solid musical substance and appeal, they represent a common basic esthetic repertory for pianists and piano music lovers.



To present these pieces we have Daniell Revenaugh, an American pianist and teacher, as well as a sometime conductor and inventor, of Berkeley, California. A quick search of the Internet provides little information about Mr. Revenaugh beyond mention of the present recording and one of the Busoni fourth piano concerto in which he conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra while John Ogdon plays the fiendishly difficult piano part. Fortunately, though, I remember Danny as a friend, a neighbor, and a fellow music student at Florida State University during the mid-1950s. (He and I once read a four-hands piano piece together in which he played the Primo part well and I flailed away trying to keep up on the Secondo part.) At the time he seemed fascinated with the idea of being a concert pianist--in particular, an outstanding virtuoso. (He had already, I think, studied with Egon Petri, star pupil of the pianistic giant Ferruccio Busoni.) Since I've had no subsequent contact with him, I am unable to comment on his career, but this CD shows him to possess a firm technique and laudable artistry in performance. He makes the piano sound good!



As I've made a stab, at least, at playing all the pieces included here, except those on tracks #4, #13, and #15, I looked forward to hearing them performed by an accomplished pianist on a fine instrument. On the whole I was not disappointed; indeed, I found welcome bits of revelation here and there, and felt any future attempts I might make at the pieces would be better informed for having heard this CD. (I should note that I've also heard recordings by the composers themselves of those by Rachmaninov, Paderewski, and Lecuona.)



What I appreciate most about Revenaugh's performances is his seriousness of artistic intent. He ignores the fact that these are old chestnuts banged away at, often excruciatingly, by generations of variously able or unable pianists. Instead, he approaches each one freshly as a valued work, without prejudice, condescension or cynicism, and gives it his best, thus breathing new life into these classics. I also appreciate his generous and informative liner notes on the pieces and, what is rare, on his approach to performing them.



While I found the disk to be quite convincing, satisfying, and worthwhile overall, I want to offer a few observations and opinions on selected items. I particularly liked his performances of the Rachmaninov prelude, the two Liszt pieces, the Chopin nocturne, and the Ivanovici waltz. I liked the Beethoven sonata and the Debussy, Brahms, Bach, Paderewski, Sinding and Lecuona items, as well. I found the Beethoven "Für Elise" rather too fast for my taste, though as a bagatelle it might warrant such lightness of touch. (I was grateful it wasn't sentimentalized.) I found the Schubert piece also a good bit too hurried, and felt it thus lost much of its Viennese charm and grace. I mostly liked the Chopin polonaise, but did not care for the slow-then-fast playing of the E Major section with its repeated bass figure; I'd have been happier if he'd chosen an intermediate tempo and stuck with it. (It's exciting enough without added histrionics.) The Chopin etude was OK, but, as Revenaugh mentions, the fast bass runs and arpeggios get a bit muddied by the too live acoustics. I'm not really familiar with the Chaminade piece, but I thought it sounded fine. I don't agree with R. that the Paderewski minuet is really a waltz; I think it's a concert minuet.



I do not know what today's cadre of great concert pianists might think of this disk--it is not in any case targeted to them. I do believe that many lovers of the piano and its music, whether players or not, can derive much esthetic enjoyment and edification from it. And to the current crop of budding young pianists, I would recommend most of the pieces as reasonable models for emulation. The few idiosyncratic performances may serve as vehicles for discussion of interpretational approach. Finally, with nearly 73 minutes of meat-and-potatoes piano classics, this CD has got to be a bargain!

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