John Noel Roberts: Alec Wilder, Music for Piano
Albany Records

With “I'll Be Around” (1943), Alec Wilder (1907-80) secured himself a permanent place in the Great American Songbook canon, especially when the song was featured by Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday on their respective classics, In the Wee Small Hours (1955) and Lady in Satin (1958). Countless others have recorded it too, including Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, and jazz pianist Marian McPartland, whose Plays the Music of Alec Wilder (1974) partners it with nine more Wilder classics. Other jazz artists, among them Keith Jarrett and Stan Getz, have also recorded his material.

Yet while his songs sit comfortably alongside those by other American greats such as Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, and the Gershwins, Wilder's considerable collection of songs constitutes but one part of his overall output. His works for piano alone number in the hundreds, and Wilder also produced chamber music and pieces for large ensembles, film, and theatre. A closer look reveals a composer of remarkable stylistic scope and broad appeal. Regardless of genre, his music exudes elegance, imagination, directness, and authenticity. It's worth noting that Wilder himself was said to be unconcerned with categories and instead was focused, simply, on writing quality music. The New York-born composer studied counterpoint and composition for a spell at the Eastman School of Music but was largely self-taught and further to that, confident about his natural grasp of form and balance, was more inclined to let intuition be his guide than formal instruction. A brief time living in Italy at a young age exposed him to Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré, and it's possible to detect their influence on his writing too. Hints of blues and jazz occasionally find their way into the writing as well.

This splendid compendium packs forty-four tracks into fifty-seven minutes, that fact alone intimating the predominance of miniatures on the release. Eschewing grandiose, long-form statements for brevity and concision, Wilder fashions succinct, harmonious gems rich in melody, lyricism, and contrast and exquisitely rendered by pianist John Noel Roberts, an acknowledged Wilder expert and champion. In addition to Alec Wilder, Music for Piano (2011), the Texas native has issued Pas Seul: Music for Piano by Alec Wilder, Vol. II (2022), also on Albany Records, as well as recordings of Chopin, Brahms, and Sister Mary Elaine Gentemann. Like Wilder, Roberts studied at the Eastman School of Music before continuing graduate studies at the Yale University School of Music to earn his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Apparently Wilder once averred that fifty percent of the success of any rendition of his music should be attributed to the expertise of the performer, and with Roberts he clearly hit pay dirt. The sensitivity of his touch and the artful poise of his phrasing do much to help distinguish the composer's writing.

Uncharacteristically long for this set, Sonata-Fantasy initiates the recording with an intricate, five-minute “Moderato” that adventurously oscillates between classical and blues forms; the range of Wilder's music is conveyed by the lyrical grace of the subsequent “Andante Tranquillo,” the bluesy nostalgia of “With a slow rocking beat,” and the jubilant energy emanating from the closing “Allegro.” Seven other multi-part works appear on the set, including four piano suites. Many a pretty moment appears on the release, from the gently radiant opening movement in Hardy Suite to the ruminative third, wistful fourth, and regal fifth in Suite for Piano I. Whereas darker tones seep into its chromatic first part (the “Moderato” and “Slowly, meditatively” movements in the third suite too), a Bach influence permeates the contrapuntal second.

March 2024