Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 10/30/2007, uploaded on 01/22/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In this recital program, we see how early 20^th Century Russian composers influenced the music of American composers of the mid-late 20^th Century.

Embraceable You        George Gershwin (arr. Earl Wild)

Toccata                         George Antheil

The last two works, the Wild and the Antheil, appear to meld together the musical worlds of Russia and the U.S.  Earl Wild is one of the great American pianists of the 20^th Century.  Here is his version of a Gershwin songtranscribed as though by Rachmaninoff, full of virtuosic figuration and lush, jazzy sonorities.  George Antheil, an American who found his way to Paris, idolized Stravinsky and included among his friends Ernest Hemingway, Man Ray, and James Joyce.  In his Toccata (1948), he combines the percussiveness of Stravinsky or Prokofiev with the open-sounding harmony of his American contemporary, Aaron Copland.

An interesting side note regarding Antheil

Evidently his playing was so percussive and harsh that audiences tired quickly when listening to him and became restless.  In order to keep his audience quiet, he was sometimes known to pull out a revolver and leave it on the piano for the whole of the recital!      Gideon Rubin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.