Before the intermission, pianist Jeffrey Biegel had regaled us with an utterly stunning rendition of the work, which is for the most part playful, untroubled, and certainly witty. Biegel's virtuosity was breathtaking, his technique in executing the work's lavish trills and muscular arpeggiations clear, concise, and thrilling throughout. But it's the second movement β ironically, anything but humorous β that lifted me up into Biegel's mesmerizing state of impassioned lyricism. In this protracted moment of emotive profundity, his playing was a warm, slow pouring out of rapturous grace.
The first movement bears the same name as the work as a whole. It breathes joy and does so slowly. This is alternated with passages of intoxicating and breathless zest. Bringing an "innocent ear" to the listening room, I found the music freewheelingly enjoyable. Crudely, and that's all I can manage, the idiom is like a gentle mix of lambent Ravel and s pastoral Copland. Natural Answer marks a return to the foot-tapping exuberance of the first movement.
The superb recording facilitates an equally superb work. Apart from the intrinsic joys of this sensationally attractive music the disc has also introduced me to this painter and her work. It has an almost filmic drama with accessible musical language that makes it an excellent entry into this program. Fuchs has written three earlier pieces that took inspiration from the art of Helen Frankenthaler. For this concerto, he has used a more traditional three-movement form, with modified sonata-allegro first movement, and rondo forms for the subsequent movements.
The titles of the movements refer to the paintings which inspired the work: Spiritualist, Silent Wish, and Natural Answer. The first movement has a wonderful sense of play and an opening rhythmical theme that invites the listener in to the soundworld. A contrasting lyrical idea has some lovely writing as well in a Neo-Romantic swath of beauty.
The style here is in a modern Americana feel with hints of jazz rhythms and syncopations an update to some of Antheil's mid-century works. The central movement opens with sparse string clusters and a piano theme that sets up a reflective Nocturne-like idea. There is a feel of Satie here in this reduced orchestral accompaniment that requires careful harmonic sway against the piano. A more energetic burst breaks this with brass glissandi that brings us closer to jazz styles with a dash of serialism.
