Rzewski reviews
Igor Levit: Life
(Speak to me) New Music, New Politics
American Rage
Igor Levit plays variations by Bach, Beethoven and Rzewski
Bach • Beethoven • Rzewski
Rzewski • Tenney • Parkins
The combination of string quartet and percussion must be unique on CD. Which is unsurprising, as it’s rarely written for, and hard to bring off. On the one hand, a monochrome medium, naturally disposed towards melody and counterpoint, and steeped in history; on the other, a vast array of struck sounds, of every colour, with barely any history at all. It could easily fall into incoherence without a composer of real rigour and imagination.
Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
Recorded during last year’s Miami International Piano Festival, this DVD has come along just after Ralph van Raat’s fine Naxos CD of the same work – which allows me to correct an error in my review of this. The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, Frederic Rzewski’s sequence of 36 variations on the song by Chilean composer Sergio Ortega, was composed in 1975 not specifically for himself to play, but for his fellow-American Ursula Oppens.
Rzewski: The People United Will Never be Defeated!; Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
The political Left of the 1970s may or may not have been confined to history, but as with any such period, some of its artistic creations will endure. The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, Frederic Rzewski’s sequence of 36 variations on the song by Chilean composer Sergio Ortega, was composed in 1975 for his own wonderful pianism. Ralph van Raat responds to these demands in impressive style. His sound is ideal: at once incisive and full.