Joan Tower's piano concerto, written in 1985, is one of the most successful American piano concertos. This recording is by
Paul Barnes and the
Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic conducted by
Kirk Trevor. The idiom of the concerto is modernist, but not atonal. It requires crisp execution of driving rhythms, including some difficult rapid repeated notes. Interspersed with this material are three cadenzas for the soloist, including strangely dream near-quotations of three of
Tower's favorite
Beethoven piano sonatas.
Barnes is nearly as good at this concerto as is
Ursula Oppens in the prior recording (on the d'Note label, with the
Louisville Orchestra).
Oppens has a little more sense of weight. She is a little faster in the supercharged bits, but less slow and dreamy in the "
Beethoven" passages, the latter being a point in
Barnes' favor. The orchestral support here is very good, with the instruments getting the smooth hand-off from the piano's repeated-note figures. Conductor
Trevor obtains a better performance here from the rather small Czech Orchestra than has been heard from the same players in other music; likewise the sound. This recording was made in the Concert Hall of Zlin, Czech Republic, not a place most would associate with effective studio recording. In this case, the recording (made by engineer
Otakar Tajovsky) is in full range with clarity and presence. It doesn't have the fullest bloom and the orchestra still is a bit small, but it convincingly digs in in the fast, rhythmic chordal material and makes fine contests in those dreamy, string-based interludes where the forward motion is temporarily suspended. The conclusion, with rich full chords rolling out of the piano, is particularly overwhelming.