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Track Listings
| 1. Suicide In An Airplane | |||
| 2. A La Chinoise, Op.39 | |||
| 3. Danse Sauvage, Op.13 No.2 | |||
| 4. No.1. No Man's Land - Andante Espressivo | |||
| 5. No.2. The Sower Of Despair - Moderato | |||
| 6. No.3. The Orient In Flanders - Andantino (Molto Espressivo) | |||
| 7. No.4. The Wrath Of The Despoiled - Sostenuto (Molto Appassionato) | |||
| 8. No.5. Night Brooding Over The Battlefield - Moderato E Misterioso | |||
| 9. No.6. A Dirge Of The Trenches - Lento | |||
| 10. No.7. Song Behind The Lines - Andante Con Moto E Malinconioso | |||
| 11. No.8. The Battle - Allegro E Molto Appassionato | |||
| 12. No.9. Army At Prayer - Allegro, Ma Non Troppo | |||
| 13. No.10. Dance Of The Dead - Vivo (Con Fuoco) | |||
| 14. No.1. The Isle Of Elephantine | |||
| 15. No.2. Primal Echo | |||
| 16. No.3. Chant Of Hindoo Priests | |||
| 17. No.4. Shadowed Waters | |||
| 18. No.5. A Melancholy Landscape | |||
| 19. No.6. Pompeian Fresco | |||
| 20. No.7. Passion | |||
See all 29 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Thank heavens for small independent labels, without whom an enterprise like this would these days be unthinkable: this disc of piano works by Leo Ornstein, which includes "Suicide in an Airplane", with its brilliantly informative liner-note, represents the rediscovery of a lost world. The biographical facts are remarkable enough: this pianist-composer from the Ukraine was born in 1892 or 1893--the truth was irrevocably obscured when his synagogue-cantor father faked his age to gain him admission to the St Petersburg conservatoire. Ornstein proceeded thence on a maverick musical career in which he gave American premières of works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók, and Kodály. Meanwhile his compositions veered between extreme atonal radicalism and sweetly romantic tonality: this CD reflects both polarities, which sometimes occur in the same piece.
The incomparable Marc-André Hamelin is in the driving seat, which is just as well since the multi-stave scores of some of these turbulent works are almost black with notes. As eccentric as Ives--though in a completely different way--Ornstein writes big compositions with a narrative drive, and miniatures which are often driven by the impulse of a single visual image. "Poems of 1917" comes across like an idealised score for a silent-film; other miniatures are expressive gems which need no pretext. The concluding sonata--completed when the composer was in his 90s--is a heady blend of Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin and Stravinsky, which triumphantly transcends the mere sum of its parts. --Michael Church
Review
'A tremendous tribute to a fascinating figure in 20th-century music' (The Daily Telegraph) 'Stimulating and frequently astonishing music, ultimately unlike anyone else's' (BBC Music Magazine) 'This is an essential release...realized with the dazzling virtuosity and preternatural clarity that we have come to expect from the enterprising Canadian ... this exhausting, diverse, and technically astonishing recording is not one that I would gladly be without' (Fanfare, USA) 'Marc-André Hamelin plays Ornstein's music with commanding savoir-faire' (The Irish Times) 'Marc-André Hamelin plays magisterially, as ever. He clearly loves this music' (International Record Review) 'A provocative collection, brilliantly played and splendidly engineered' (International Piano) 'Marc-André Hamelin is spellbinding in his performance ... This CD is an outstanding example of astonishing music' (Hi-Fi Plus) 'It almost goes without saying that Marc-André Hamelin plays the socks off this music, tackling the most knuckle-busting runs and cluster harmonies in Danse Sauvage and its fellow pieces with staggering virtuosity.' --(ClassicsToday.com)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best CD around,
By Rrose Selavy (somewhere not quiet enough) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ornstein: Piano Music (Audio CD)
This is 'the' Desert Island Disc. Luckily I bought this CD never having heard of the composer but solely because I was intrigued by the title 'Suicide in an Airplane'. Quite simply the best CD on the market. Since first listening to it almost a year ago I have never been able to listen to Chopin, Scriabin, Debussy, or Liszt again. For me it represents the pinnacle of classical music, Suicide in and Airplane has all the pathos of Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, all the dynamism of Liszt's Pieces sur un theme transcendante, but is a lot more easily listened to, it is darkly mesmerising. Dance Sauvage is also a masterpiece as is A la chinoise. The best piece however is Primal Echo. The only piece I can think to compare it to is Carl Ruggles' Suntreader which is similarly brilliant. The music is again intensely absorbing the only way I can think to describe it is controlled wrecklessness (as odd as that sounds). A week after listening to the Primal Echo it kept streaming back into my mind during lectures and completely destroyed my concentration. Ornstein achieves a miracle in these pieces, he creates listenable Avant-Garde music. You won't ever want to stop listening to this CD, you won't ever want to leave your seat after it finishes. Through the looking glass music indeed! (probably the best money I ever spent - though there was the cinema ticket for Alain Resnais' Last Year in Marienbad).
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best CD around,
By Rrose Selavy (somewhere not quiet enough) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ornstein: Piano Music (Audio CD)
This is 'the' Desert Island Disc. Luckily I bought this CD never having heard of the composer but solely because I was intrigued by the title 'Suicide in an Airplane'. Quite simply the best CD on the market. Since first listening to it almost a year ago I have never been able to listen to Chopin, Scriabin, Debussy, or Liszt again. For me it represents the pinnacle of classical music, Suicide in and Airplane has all the pathos of Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, all the dynamism of Liszt's Pieces sur un theme transcendante, but is a lot more easily listened to, it is darkly mesmerising. Dance Sauvage is also a masterpiece as is A la chinoise. The best piece however is Chant of Hindoo priests part of the Arabesques. The only piece I can think to compare it to is Carl Ruggles' Suntreader which is similarly brilliant. The music is again intensely absorbing the only way I can think to describe it is controlled wrecklessness (as odd as that sounds). A week after listening to the Chant it kept streaming back into my mind during lectures and completely destroyed my concentration. Ornstein achieves a miracle in these pieces, he creates listenable Avant-Garde music. You won't ever want to stop listening to this CD, you won't ever want to leave your seat after it finishes. Through the looking glass music indeed! (probably the best money I ever spent - though there was the cinema ticket for Alain Resnais' Last Year in Marienbad).
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of the best classical CDs I have ever heard,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ornstein: Piano Music (Audio CD)
It is shameful that Ornstein sank into obscurity after a brief period of fame early in the century. His music is simply magnificent, especially the piano quintet, but his solo piano music is so stunning, that it is hard to find the right adjective. Anyone who loves modern classical music should buy this. It is one of the greatest collections of piano composition I have ever heard. Ditto for the Janice Weber piano collection on Naxos, and check out the piano quintet too! Ornstein's works have not been widely performed and recorded, so keep eyes peeled. His hammering, forceful piano concerto needs to be recorded also. Perhaps Hamelin will pick that one up as well.
9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The four stars are for the performance, not the music,
By J Scott Morrison - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Ornstein: Piano Music (Audio CD)
I'd heard of Leo Ornstein as long ago as the 1950s. I knew he had been an avant garde composer and an activist/publicist for it and for advanced composers way back in the 1920s. I knew that he lived to be more than 100 years old. I knew that he'd been described as a 'Futurist'. But I'd never heard a note of his music. And since I buy everything that Marc-André Hamelin records, I bought this one. I've tried, I've really tried, to get inside the music. But so help me I can't. It does have a certain descriptive quality that works; the 'Suicide in an Airplane', for instance, does indeed go into a tailspin and crash. But for the life of me I can't see the purpose of this brutal style of composition; it makes Ives at his most discordant sound like a pantywaist. I will doff my hat to Hamelin for taking it on, and I'll bet these are the best performances these pieces are likely to receive any time soon, and surely if anyone could make a listener accept the music, Hamelin could. But not me. I'm willing to chalk it up to my own deficiencies. Be warned, this is not easy music. It is not pretty music. It often sounds like someone banging out his impression of chinoiserie, or a plane crash, or some wild men dancing in an abandoned manner. Not for the unadventurous. |
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