Rorem, Ned / Piano Album I, Six Friends (Carolyn Enger, Piano(
Album: Piano Album I, Six Friends (Carolyn Enger, Piano(   Collection:Classical
Artist:Rorem, Ned   Added:Sep 2014
Label:Naxos World  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2014-09-26 Pull Date: 2014-11-28 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Oct 5
Airplays: 2

Recent Airplay
1. Oct 02, 2014: Meow
Contuoso, In Many Bowel Movements...
2. Sep 28, 2014: Pentagonal Banana
Piano Album 1: Song Without Words (1:19)

Album Review
Larry Koran
Reviewed 2014-09-20
Time magazine called Ned Rorem (b. 1923) “the world’s best composer of art songs.” Jim Holmes, Rorem’s partner of thirty-two years, was the inspiration for the majority of the pieces in Piano Album I, composed between 1978 and 2001. Each piece professes love or devotion. Rorem ensured that each piece fit onto a single page so that he could brightly decorate it and frame it, before presenting it to Jim or another dedicatee. He incorporated many of these pieces into other works. Six Friends is similar set (2006-2007). All of these miniatures are gentle. The overall feeling is serene calm, the perfect antidote to a stressful day. Rorem uses delicate chromatic dissonance, but his music has a sumptuous, elegant feel. Pianist Carolyn Enger plays in a manner highly sympathetic to the delicate phrasing these pieces require.

Track Listing
1. Piano Album 1: Song Without Words (1:19)   18. A Christmas Card For Mary And Rosemary (1:46)
2. Carol-Pastiche (0:55)   19. For A Perfect Sister (1:21)
3. Serenade For Two Paws (1:41)   20. A Sarabande For The Only Jim In The World (1:16)
4. Nineteen Measures For Jim (1:21)   21. Sixty Notes For Judy (1:36)
5. Golden Notes On Nearing Fifty (1:26)   22. Seventy-Seven Notes For Rosemary (1:00)
6. Another Little Song Without Words (1:10)   23. Ninety-Nine- Notes To The Millennium (1:46)
7. This Serpentine Etude (1:45)   24. For Ben (2:51)
8. For A Perfect Friend (1:49)   25. Waiting To Get Well (1:48)
9. Marriage Measures (1:40)   26. 1 + 1 = 3 (2:02)
10. Snapshot Of Jack (1:57)   27. Forty Chords For Mark On April First (1:29)
11. For Jim (1:35)   28. Six Friends. For Marian (2:22)
12. Little Waltz For Jim At Fifty-Five (0:52)   29. For Barbara (1:37)
13. A Melody For Shirley (1:33)   30. For Rosemary (1:22)
14. A Talisman For Jim On Christmas Eve (1:19)   31. For Mary (1:30)
15. On His Birthday (1:14)   32. For Don (1:39)
16. Ah Jim . . . (1:26)   33. 75 Notes For Jerry (1:26)
17. A Berceuse For Jim At Christmas (1:16)   .