CHOPIN: Nocturne, Op. 32 No. 2; Barcarolle
BEETHOVEN: Andante Favori
SAINT-SAENS: The Swan
LISZT: Un Sospiro
GALUPPI: Sonata in C
KODALY: Marosszek Dances
GERSHWIN-Wild: Four Virtuoso Etudes

Fleur de Son Classics 57971

On the C.D. Rebecca Penneys and Steinway, pianist and Eastman Professor Penneys displays her lovely art, performing a variety of musical styles in the grand manner of the 19th century. She creates long and beautifully shaped lines and plays with a balanced sense of rubato, astonishing listeners with an easy and glittering virtuosity. 

These performances are emotionally generous and colorfully evocative. The warm, rich bass in the opening of Marosszek Dances by Zoltan Kodaly is remarkable, as it is in the undulating left-hand figures of the Chopin Barcarolle. The Kodaly, which receives a definitive performance here, has magical moments in the improvised shepherd's flute episode. Gyorgy Sebok described another section of the piece as a lightning storm on the great Hungarian plains; Penneys represents the buildup of that storm with terrifying intensity. She shines brightly in glittering runs in the Liszt Etude in D-flat, "Un sospiro"; the languid melody of the harp-like etude is romantic and fluid. Her performance of Baldassare Galuppi's witty late-Baroque Sonata in C is artistically ornamented. 

A lesser-known transcription by Alexander Siloti of Saint-Saens, "The Swan," shows Penneys' uncanny ability to spin a seemingly endless melodic line in a way that does full justice to the haunting cello solo of the original. 

A delightful inclusion to the recording is four "Virtuoso Etudes" by Earl Wild, based on George Gershwin's arrangements of his popular songs. These she plays in a grand manner, and the performance of "Fascinatin' Rhythm" is infectious. 

In the liner notes Penneys expresses appreciation for the voicing and regulation of Ted Kostakis and the tuning of Marvin Rus who prepared the vintage 1891 art-case Steinway D for this recording. It is a special pleasure to hear octaves and chords utterly in tune and voiced perfectly by both performer and the technicians.