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Claire Huangci: Made in USA: Gershwin, Beach, Barber A country as broad, complex, and multi-faceted as the United States demands a musical counterpart of equivalent sweep and finds it in Claire Huangci's panoramic portrait. In combining disparate works by George Gershwin, Amy Beach, and Samuel Barber on the seventy-eight-minute recording, she goes a long way towards capturing the diversity and pioneering spirit of the USA. Thoughtfully sequenced, Huangci frames Beach's Variations on Balkan Themes and Barber's Sonata in E Flat Minor for Piano with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Earl Wild's etude-styled treatments of seven Gershwin songs. The album might have been recorded in February 2024 at Leibniz Saal, Hanover, but, subject-wise, it's America through and through. Huangci's a fitting pianist for the project. Born in America, she made her debut as a concert artist at the ripe old age of nine. A repeated award winner, Huangci studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and then decamped to Germany in 2007 for further studies at the Hannover Musikhochschule. She's given solo recitals and performed with orchestras around the world on some of its most prestigious stages, and is as comfortable playing Mozart and Schubert as Bernstein and Bach. Her deep connection to her latest album's material is reflected in her describing Barber's sonata as a piece that's been on her “wish list” since her early teens. Up first, however, is the crowd-pleasing Rhapsody in Blue in the composer's own solo piano arrangement. The work, whose title was suggested by George's brother and songwriting partner Ira in response to its jazzy ‘blue' notes, is as encompassing as the country it was born in, visiting as it does during its fifteen-minute journey ragtime, classical, and, of course, blues and jazz. Sketched out in full by the composer during a train ride to Boston and premiered in 1924, the material works insistent locomotion into its design. Huangci's commanding rendition exemplifies her maturity as a pianist and confidence as a performer. Grandiose, raucous, and swinging in all the right places and sensitive and lyrical when it needs to be, her treatment captivates for the full measure of its presentation. Particularly noticeable is her deft handling of tempo and pacing as shown in the fluidity of her transitions. While countless solo piano treatments have been recorded, Huangci's stands out for the palpable enthusiasm she brings to the performance. Interestingly, as towering and domineering as the Barber work is, it's Beach's Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 that is for Huangci “the heart and soul of the album.” That's no doubt attributable, in part, to the affecting character of the material and its incorporation of four Balkan folk melodies. The work's based on songs the Reverend William W. Sleeper brought back to the US from the Balkans and was completed by Beach in 1904, though subsequently revised in 1936 and given a two-piano arrangement six years later. Certainly the opening thematic statement, which references the Serbian song “O Maiko Moja,” is moving in its aching expression; its impact is felt throughout the five variations that follow when they're also based on the song. Complementing the plaintive adagio treatment of the opening part, those that follow range from dynamic and playful to serene and one so evocative it alternately calls to mind Debussy, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff. The sixth variation introduces the Bulgarian folk melody “Stara Planina,” playfulness again evident in the animation of the material and Huangci's spirited presentation. “O Maiko Moja” returns in the seventh variation, this time as a delicate waltz before the final song, described by Beach as “‘a Macedonian appeal for help,” appears at the start of the tender eighth. The work's two longest movements come at its end, the sombre “Marcia funebre” generally living up to its funereal billing and the stately “Cadenza: Grave — Quasi fantasia” resolving the work triumphantly. The most physically demanding and technically challenging work on Made in USA has to be Barber's Sonata in E Flat Minor for Piano, Op. 26, but Huangci is up to the task. True to the daring spirit of the composer, the work advances upon the classic sonata design with chromaticism and flirtations with twelve-note technique. A prototypical Barber creation, the work was given its world premiere by Vladimir Horowitz and was described by Poulenc as “tragic, joyful, and lyrical in turn.” Huangci's reference to its “ferocious virtuosity” is born out by the performance, which is often stunning. After the dramatic “Allegro energico” establishes the work's adventurous character with semitone intervals and transfixing cross-currents of chords and runs, the brief scherzo-styled second movement moves with high velocity as it oscillates between the polytonal and atonal. As memorable are the haunted “Adagio mesto” when it builds progressively from its ominous opening sequence into a contrapuntal powderkeg and the dazzling perpetual motion machine that is the fugal finale. Working with simplified piano arrangements Gershwin made of his own songs in 1932, pianist/composer Wild transformed them into delightful studies designed to be played as concert encores. In contrast to the dark ferocity of the Barber sonata, Wild's treatments intoxicate with charm. “Liza” instates a sunny mood immediately with Huangci embroidering the song's melodies with flurries of sextuplets. Wild's embracing versions of “The Man I Love” and “Embraceable You” are romance incarnate, though they're also challenging exercises for the pianist when they include elaborate riffs on their themes. In contrast to the uptempo thrill rides that are “I Got Rhythm” and “Fascinatin' Rhythm,” “Lady be Good” takes it dreamily slow and ventures into blues territory, if subtly. Some of the songs assume a more “classical” demeanour than others but all beguile. The multi-faceted “melting pot” that is the United States is mirrored splendidly in pianist Claire Huangci's homage. Barber's sonata might be the most demanding of the four on technical grounds, but the other three certainly aren't slouches in that department and also call on the interpreter's capacity for emotional expression. On all counts, Huangci succeeds marvelously.October 2024 |