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Leopold Godowsky: Java Suite; Wine, Women and Song | 
| Creators: Leopold Godowsky, Konstantin Scherbakov
Label: Marco Polo
Category: Music
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $5.45
as of 11/27/2009 21:19 CST details
You Save: $4.54 (45%)
New (15) Used (4) from $5.45
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 202897
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 636943527429
EAN: 0636943527429
ASIN: B000MRP1R8
Release Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 1. Gamelan | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 1. Wayang-Purwa: Puppet Shadow Play | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 1. Hari Besaar: The Great Day | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 2. Chattering Monkeys at the Sacred Lake of Wendit | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 2. Boro Budur in Moonlight | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 2. The Bromo Volcano and Sand Sea at Daybreak | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 3. Three Dances | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 3. The Gardens of Buitenzorg | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 3. In the Streets of Old Batavia | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 4. In the Kraton | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 4. In the Ruined Water Castle at Djokja | | • | Java Suite: Phonoramas, Tonal Journeys for piano: Part 4. A Court Pageant in Solo | | • | Symphonic Metamorphosis of Wine, Women and Song from Johann Strauss Jr. |
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| Customer Reviews:
The Godowsky Renaissance Continues May 12, 2007
J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
For many years the piano compositions of Polish-American pianist/composer Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) languished in obscurity, rarely played or recorded. There was always interest among cognoscenti and among pianists who loved exploring corners of the modern piano repertoire. But there it remained until an upsurge of recordings and performances began perhaps fifteen or twenty years ago. There are now three recordings of his Chopin etude recompositions (and that's what they are: recompositions), prime among which is that of Marc-André Hamelin. And his superb Passacaglia and the Sonata have also been recorded. Rather quietly Naxos's house virtuoso, Konstantin Scherbakov, has been recording what appears to be a complete traversal of the piano works; this CD is Volume 8. And it contains some of the most interesting music to date: the Java Suite (originally entitled 'Phonorama: Tonal Journey for the Pianoforte') and the delectable 'Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Johann Strauss II -- No. 3: Wine, Women and Song'. The latter has been recorded a number of times, the former has only been recorded once, as far as I know, by Esther Budiardjo on ProPiano, a recording I've not heard.
For me by far the most interesting thing here is the Java Suite, an almost 50 minute set of twelve short character pieces whose inspiration was that of the music of the Indonesian island, Java. Written in 1925, Godowsky's suite must have seemed exotic to early listeners. The first piece 'Gamelan' may very well have introduced that word and the sound of gamelan-style music to many westerners. (Of course, French composers in particular had been influenced by this sort of music back in 1889 when a Javanese gamelan played at the Paris World's Fair, and indeed it is notable that much of Godowsky's music necessarily sounds like similar works by Debussy.) Technically much of Godowsky's Java Suite makes use of both whole-tone and pentatonic scales. Thus, even to the untrained ear, the music sounds Eastern.
Among the more striking effects in the Java Suite are the heavily perfumed atmosphere of 'The Gardens of Buitenzorg' ('Buitenzorg' means 'Sans Souci'), the quick repeated-note fourths and fifths of 'Chattering Monkeys at the Sacred Lake of Wendit', the use of Debussyan chords of the ninth in 'Boro Budur in Moonlight' and the stylized gestures of 'A Court Pageant in Solo'. I found myself going back again and again to hear this suite.
Godowsky's delightfully lilting pianistic transformation of Johann Strauss II's 'Wine, Women and Song' is virtuosic in the extreme. Scherbakov tosses it off as if it weren't and stylishly at that. Lucky us.
For anyone even more than a little interested in Godowsky's music, this release is a must. And for those who enjoy exploring unfamiliar 20th-century piano music but who don't cotton to extreme modernism, this release is self-recommending. It should be noted that the formerly full-price Marco Polo label is now selling its new releases at budget price.
Scott Morrison
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