Nostalgia features Chaminade’s elegant and lovely “Thème Varié” along with her sparkling, glittery and brilliant “Toccata,” her hauntingly beautiful “Nocturne”, and many more pianistic gems by this often overlooked French composer.

On September 6, 2024, Steinway & Sons releases Nostalgia – Piano Music of Cécile Chaminade, Vol. 2 (STNS 30239) from pianist Joanne Polk. This is a wonderful companion to Polk’s highly lauded first Volume of music by Chaminade, The Flatterer (STNS 30037). The works of Chaminade boast structure, architecture, beauty and harmonic interest and they strikingly display a mastery of instrumental idioms that make her works a joy to perform and to hear.

“Joanne Polk captures the technical splendor and passion of Cécile Chaminade’s music as well as Steinway piano’s incomparable sound with absolute brilliance.”
AXS Entertainment

“Polk plays with total conviction and mastery.”
Gramophone

“Joanne Polk’s valuable quality is how deftly she can weave the power between her left and right hand, giving each “thought” its own pocket of personalized and instantaneous charm.”
ConcertoNet.com

“Superb pianism and intelligent programme-building.”
International Piano

“Fantastic music, terrific playing.”
Fanfare

Joanne was delighted to sit down and talk about her new album, Nostalgia — Piano Music of Cécile Chaminade, Vol. 2 (Steinway & Sons) with Julie Amacher on the New Classical Tracks Podcast. Take a listen!

New Classical Tracks Podcast

by Interview with Julie Amacher

THE ALBUM IS AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE THROUGH ALL download and STREAMING SERVICES.

CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify

The Silence Between the Notes: Louise Farrenc Solo Piano Works, Vol. 2

On September 1, 2023, Steinway & Sons releases The Silence Between the Notes – Louise Farrenc: Solo Piano Works, Vol. 2 (STNS 30223) from pianist Joanne Polk. The album is a compliment to Polk’s acclaimed 2020 release, Louise Farrenc: Etudes & Variations for Solo Piano (STNS 30133).

As the first female professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory in 1842, Farrenc broke the long-standing barrier of gender discrimination at the Conservatory, and as a published composer of music for solo piano, chamber ensembles, and orchestra she was able to establish the legitimacy of music by women in the face of accepted theories of their inferiority as creative artists. Like the handful of her female colleagues who became published composers (Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann in particular), Farrenc studied composition privately with some of the same teachers who instructed her famous male counterparts at the Paris Conservatory. And her success as a published composer had to do in part with the fact that her husband, Jacques Farrenc, was a leading Parisian music publisher who was not afraid to promote his wife’s music through publication. Regrettably, it often took familial connections of this sort to allow women in the 19th century to succeed as composers and to destroy the common prejudices against female composers of that era.

This new recording includes twelve more of the 30 Etudes that formed a large part of Joanne Polk’s first volume of the piano music of Louise Farrenc. These are, like the etudes of Liszt and Chopin, large-scale concert works that also serve to develop different specific pianistic techniques. Further expanding the recording of Farrenc’s etudes is the inclusion here of her 12 Études brillantes, written in the same virtuoso style as her 30 Etudes.

Also recorded on this album are two more examples of Farrenc’s operatic fantasies: one based on an aria from Bellini’s opera La straniera, and the other from Carafa’s opera Berenice. Both of these piano works are part of the familiar 19th-century tradition of composing transcriptions of tunes from popular operas that were currently in production at the Paris Opéra. These transcriptions were part of a collection that Farrenc published under the title Les Italiennes.

Opening the present recording is a short, lyrical piece titled simply Mélodie, an example of the popular 19th-century genre known as “songs without words.” This poetic gem speaks volumes to the depth and profundity of Farrenc’s ability to touch our souls, and to hear the silence between the notes.

– Dr. Jeffrey Langford

CLICK HERE to listen on Spotify

Songs of Amy Beach

THIS CD WAS NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY AWARD!!

Amy Beach produced more than 120 songs, only a few of which are known to the general public. One of her songs, The Year’s at the Spring, was so popular in her day that she bought a house in Cape Cod with the residuals from sales of the song. This CD presents 22 of Beach’s finest songs, a selection which ranges from some of her earliest published efforts through her later brooding masterpieces. Superb American baritone Patrick Mason is the featured baritone on this CD, which makes an excellent case for these songs as major English language song literature.

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Callisto: Solo piano music by Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)

Joanne Polk has been a devoted advocate of composer Judith Lang Zaimont’s music for decades. This CD includes Zaimont’s renowned Piano Sonata, the last movement of which, titled Impronta Digitale, is a virtuosic masterpiece, and was commissioned for the 11th International Van Cliburn Competition. Also includes Hesitation Rag, a fun, jazzy piece, in the style of the turn-of-the-century (20th century, that is) ragtime style, with lots of syncopated rhythm.

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Amy Beach: morning glories

This CD, Volume 5 in the series of complete piano music of Amy Beach, reunites Joanne Polk with the Lark Quartet, in chamber music by Amy Beach, and includes her violin sonata, string quartet, and piano trio. The Piano Trio was written when Beach was 70 years old, as she dips her toe into late Romanticism and Impressionism. Beach was a Romantic composer, in spite of living almost to the middle of the 20th century. Her music was often dismissed as being naive and old-fashioned. But the string quartet does explore dissonances, while the violin sonata looks back to a more Brahmsian sound. Beach possessed a multitude of styles and techniques in her compositional tool chest. This CD gives a flavor of her compositional depth.

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Amy Beach: Empress of Night

This CD is Volume 4 in the series of complete piano music of Amy Beach, and features her monumental Piano Concerto, recorded in London with the English Chamber Orchestra, Paul Goodwin, conductor. As well, Beach’s renowned Piano Quintet, which pairs Joanne Polk with the Lark Quartet, rounds out the CD. The Piano Concerto is a large, four-movement work to rival any major romantic concerto. Beach wrote about the orchestra as a rival to the piano in the genre of concerto composing, and many Beach scholars believe Beach composed this piece with the struggles of an overbearing mother and a domineering husband, as the driving force behind its creation. The Piano Quintet is also large and romantic in style, and the slow movement enjoys such a breathtaking and poetic theme, it is often excerpted and played on its own in concerts.

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Amy Beach: fire-flies

Joanne Polk recorded the complete solo piano music of Amy March Cheney Beach (1867-1944) in three highly acclaimed CDs.

Volume 3: fireflies, the final volume of Polk’s excursion into Beach’s solo piano music, includes Beach’s Four Sketches Op. 15, four charming character pieces, the third of which is the lovely “Dreaming,” and last of which is the title of the CD, a virtuosic and challenging exercise in double thirds flying all over the piano.

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Amy Beach: under the stars

Joanne Polk recorded the complete solo piano music of Amy March Cheney Beach (1867-1944) in three highly acclaimed CDs.

Volume 2: under the stars, includes Beach’s brilliant Prelude and Fugue based on the letters of her name: A-B-E-A-C-H (H as B-natural) as well as her most popular Ballad.

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Amy Beach: by the still waters

Joanne Polk recorded the complete solo piano music of Amy March Cheney Beach (1867-1944) in three highly acclaimed CDs.

Volume 1: by the still waters includes the Variations on Balkan Themes, a haunting piece focused on conflicts in the Balkan region, some of which still simmer today.

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ZONES: Music by Judith Lang Zaimont

This CD contains two piano trios by Zaimont, and features, in addition to pianist Joanne Polk, violinist Peter Winograd and cellist Peter Wyrick. As well, ZONES presents, in its entirety, Zaimont’s most well-known piece for solo piano, “A Calendar Set,” which has 12 movements — one movement for each month of the year. While very rarely played in its entirety, the piece is excerpted quite frequently. Zaimont refers to his piece as her “Rachmaninoff C-sharp minor prelude,” because of the frequency of performances, over many decades. Trios #1 and 2 are equally-exceptional music, and the last movement of Piano Trio #1, titled “Russian Summer,” is named “Romp,” which means “to have fun and enjoy oneself,” and this movement is a joy and a hoot to play and to hear.

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Clara Schumann: Completely Clara

“Completely Clara,” selected songs by Clara Wieck Schumann, launched Joanne Polk’s career focus on music by women. Recorded with Metropolitan Opera soprano Korliss Uecker, selections include the lovely and intimate Die Stille Lotosblume and the fiery Lorelei.

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DISCOGRAPHY

Click on any image to learn more about that recording.

New Classical Tracks Podcast

The Silence Between the Notes: Louise Farrenc Solo Piano Works, Vol. 2

DAVID SHENTON:SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN VARIATIONS

Louise Farrenc: Etudes and Variations for Solo Piano

George Gershwin/Earl Wild: Gershwin & Wild

The Flatterer: Piano Music of Cécile Chaminade

Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn

The Piano Sings: Solo Piano Music by Fanny Mendelssohn

Songs of Amy Beach

Callisto: Solo piano music by Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945)

Amy Beach: morning glories

Amy Beach: Empress of Night

Amy Beach: fire-flies

Amy Beach: under the stars

Amy Beach: by the still waters

ZONES: Music by Judith Lang Zaimont

Clara Schumann: Completely Clara

DISCOGRAPHY

DAVID SHENTON:
SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN VARIATIONS