722056290227

Port Of Call: New England

Louise Bessette

Regular
£13.99
Sale
Regular
£13.99
Unavailable
Unit Price
per 

Format: CD

Cat No: ACD22902

PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.

Release Date:  10 January 2025

Label:  Atma Classique

Packaging Type:  Jewel Case

No of Units:  1

Barcode:  722056290227

Genres:  Classical  Chamber Music  

  • Description

    For her latest musical journey, pianist Louise Bessette visits the port of call of New England. Her musical guideposts are works by two American composers: Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord, Mass., 1840-60," by Charles Ives (1874-1954), and New England Idyls, Op. 62, by Edward MacDowell (1860-1908).

    The "Concord Sonata" is one of the great masterpieces of the piano literature, and Ives' revised 1947 edition is the version most often performed today. Scholars such as Jay Gottlieb, with whom Louise Bessette worked on her interpretation, have improved the 1947 edition by adding details that Ives had included in the manuscripts, but later omitted in the published scores. The brief parts for viola (first movement) and flute (fourth movement) are marked as optional. Louise Bessette chose to include them on her recording, calling on violist Isaac Chalk and flutist Jeffrey Stonehouse.

    New York-born pianist and composer Edward MacDowell was particularly renowned for his piano music--concertos, sonatas and etudes. MacDowell wanted to add a "local flavour" to the music he had learned in the European tradition, and drew inspiration, for example, from the music of America's First Nations. In his score for the cycle New England Idyls, each of the ten short pieces is preceded by a short poem, including "Indian Idyl," which is based on a love song of the Iowa nation. Composed in 1902, Opus 62 would be the last work in Edward MacDowell's catalogue before his death in 1908.

    With an exceptional career spanning forty years, pianist Louise Bessette stands out for the excellence of her live performances. She has been a professor of piano at the Conservatoire de musique de Montreal since 1996 and in 2024 was named Knight of the Ordre de Montreal.

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Charles Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 'Concord Mass' I. Emerson
      • 2. II. Hawthorne
      • 3. III. The Alcotts
      • 4. IV. Thoreau
      • 5. Edward MacDowell: New England Idyls, Op. 62 I. An Old Garden
      • 6. II. Mid-summer
      • 7. III. Mid-winter
      • 8. IV. With Sweet Lavender
      • 9. V. In Deep Woods
      • 10. VI. Indian Idyl
      • 11. VII. To an Old White Pine
      • 12. VIII. From Puritan Days
      • 13. IX. From a Log Cabin
      • 14. X. The Joy of Autumn