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A Folk Song Runs Through It / Andrew Rangell

Release Date: 07/30/2013
Label: Steinway & Sons Catalog #: 30018
Composer:  Leos Janácek ,  Béla Bartók ,  Zoltán Kodály Performer:  Andrew Rangell Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo

“A free-thinker among pianists – a master of graded dynamics and the long crescendo. Rangell's consistently provocative playing and ideas are so interesting that we can hardly keep ourselves from appreciating them.”
-- International Record Review

"Rangell practices a light, often delicate touch on the piano, an approach that serves him well in the slower, airier scores. Nevertheless, he maintains a good deal of power in reserve, making his technique not only dramatically virtuosic but uncommonly sensitive and diverse as well. [A] fascinating look at Central European folk-art music just after the turn of the twentieth century." -- John J. Puccio, Classical Candor

"A great entry for Read more classical music tourists that want to come into the tent without feeling overwhelmed, this set doesn't pander or dumb it down giving vets and newbies a place they can mingle comfortably. Wonderful stuff that'll add to your sophistication cache with little to no effort." -- Midwest Record Entertainment

"All of these pieces have something in common: lovability—a lovability that comes from their composers’ love for the people’s music... The pianist here is an American, Andrew Rangell, who plays the music very well: with sympathy for what it is, and love of it, I think. In addition, he has written top-drawer liner notes." -- Jay Nordlinger, New Criterion

"The folk origins of Hungarian and Czech piano music are the subject of this fascinating new album by pianist Andrew Rangell. Renowned as an interpreter of Bach and Beethoven, the pianist here turns his gaze on Bartok, Janacek and Kodaly, exploring lesser-known works and taking care to showcase how broad and powerful was the influence of folk song...the most intriguing offering is Bartok's "Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs." The piece with the most direct link to folk music is also the furthest ranging, full of odd turns and biting dissonances that in Rangell's hands sound as fresh and unpredictable as if they were penned yesterday."
-- Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer

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A Folk Song Runs through It follows Andrew Rangell’s acclaimed 2012 release for Steinway, Bach’s Art of Fugue.

With this release, Andrew Rangell, known for his eloquent interpretations of Bach and Beethoven, reminds us of his breadth of repertoire and thoughtful, stimulating programming.

The creative achievements of Bartók, Janácek, and Kodály were nourished and stimulated by each composer’s deep, lifelong study of indigenous folk music. In the works presented here, folk-influence comes to the listener’s ear in ways ranging from the simple presentation of actual folk song to the reconstitution and transformation of folk materials to suit more complex structures. But the folk element, even when fully assimilated, is never lost. “A folk song runs through it.”
-- Andrew Rangell


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