Rorem: Piano Album I & Six Friends

Ned Rorem has been hailed by Time magazine as “the world’s best composer of art songs.” Of his own work he has said, “I conceive all music vocally… it is always the singer within me crying to get out.” This recording features his complete Piano Album I, a series of small-scale but significant piano compositions dating from 1978 to 2001. These and the set Six Friends were largely written as gifts to friends and colleagues, forming musical sketch books which are filled with miniature masterpieces. They have echoes in Rorem’s larger works, and stand in their own right as beautiful gems which create an atmosphere of tranquility and heartfelt tenderness.

“Among the 90th-birthday tributes this year to the essential American composer Ned Rorem, this recording especially stands out.”

New York Times

“The pieces from both sets are intimate, wistful, and beautifully crafted. … There is a bittersweet lyricism in Rorem’s shorter works… The other thing to celebrate in this album is the pianist, who is ideal for this project. Carolyn Enger’s playing is beautifully nuanced and songlike through all of these pieces—by no means an easy achievement. These are not big statements, but very personal ones, and Enger brings them fully to life.”

—American Record Guide

“The pianist here, Carolyn Enger, plays with a highly sympathetic approach to the delicate phrasing required to emphasise the gentle nature of these pieces.”

—MusicWeb International

“This music isn’t technically difficult, but it’s hard to pull off. Carolyn Enger’s quiet confidence serves the composer well. There’s a refreshing informality about this disc, as if someone’s just pressed the record button and let Enger get on with it.”

—The ArtsDesk

Tracks

  1. Song Without Words
  2. Carol – Pastiche
  3. Serenade for Two Paws
  4. 19 Measures for Jim
  5. Golden Notes on Nearing Fifty
  6. Another Little Song Without Words
  7. This Serpentine Etude
  8. For a Perfect Friend
  9. Marriage Measures
  10. Snapshot of Jack
  11. For Jim
  12. A Little Waltz for Jim at Fifty-Five
  13. A Melody for Shirley
  14. A Talisman for Jim on Christmas Eve
  15. On His Birthday
  16. Ah Jim
  17. A Berceuse for Jim at Christmas
  18. A Christmas Card for Mary and Rosemary
  19. For a Perfect Sister
  20. A Sarabande for the Only Jim in the World
  21. 60 Notes for Judy
  22. 77 Notes for Rosemary
  23. 99 Notes for the Millennium
  24. For Ben
  25. Waiting to Get Well
  26. 1 + 1 = 3
  27. 40 Chords for Mark on April First
  28. For Marian
  29. For Barbara
  30. For Rosemary
  31. For Mary
  32. For Don
  33. 75 Notes for Jerry

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