Antonin Dvorak
    Piano Music, Vol. 1

* Theme and Variations, op. 36
* Polka in E
* Silhouettes, op. 8
* 2 Menuets, op. 28
* Dumka, op. 35

Inna Poroshina (piano)
Total time: 50:35
ESS.A.Y CD1059

Summary for the Busy Executive: Mostly charming.

Dvorak wrote a lot of piano music - at least five CDS' worth, according
to ESS.A.Y's release list - but none of it contains music central to our
appreciation of his career.  You won't find the equivalent of Brahms's
rhapsodies, intermezzi, or variation sets here, for example.  Dvorak wrote
his piano music mainly for his publisher, and it did bring in some money.
The composer played violin and viola, rather than keyboard, and usually
did better with piano 4-hands or two-piano pieces.  His piano concerto,
pleasant enough, nevertheless doesn't call up the deeps of the cello and
violin concerti.  However, Dvorak remains Dvorak.  Even these morceaux come
from a master's pen, far from the usual run of 19th-century parlor music,
although parlor music is what they are.  The composer's gift for the
incisive turn of phrase and his ability to focus even a slight musical
argument set him apart.

At their best, the pieces on this CD approach the Slavonic Dances.
Although they never quite reach that level, they well represent the
"unbuttoned" Dvorak, all the same.  Dvorak doesn't scale great heights or
plumb emotional fathoms here, as he does in, say, his piano quartets or
late symphonies.  Theme and Variations, op.  36, wins the title of "Most
Substantial." The eight variations are pretty straightforward.  Most of the
interest lies in the theme, a chromatic meanderer, with a couple of nifty
enharmonic shifts out of and back into key.  The composer also tacks on a
charming coda at the end, also fodder for variations.  Furthermore, Dvorak
constructs the theme by varying a simple idea.  The piano writing, within
the reach of good players, not necessarily virtuosi, still gives the lie to
those who claim that Dvorak couldn't write effectively for the instrument.
The composer comes up with plenty of inventive, effective textures.  He's
not simply ripping off other composers' piano writing or falling back on
the routine.  His secret seems to be that he's not writing piano music,
but music.  The textural invention comes from the musical ideas themselves,
rather than from the movement of the fingers.  This would be a corker
orchestrated, and at times, I felt as if I listened to a piano sketch
of a Dvorak orchestral piece, the piano writing was that suggestive.

The Polka in E travels more conventional paths.  The writing could be
anybody's, but it's short and fun, nevertheless.  We can say the same for
the Menuets, slightly misnamed.  They seem more like Schubertian Laendler
to me, or at least slow waltzes.  The Dumka's interest lies mainly in
Dvorak's love of the form - a slow, lyrical section followed by a quick
dance.  Here, the composer gives us a bit no more dazzling than a Fourth
of July sparkler, but the piece enchants nevertheless.  However, his most
advanced use of the form occurs probably in the "Dumky" piano trio, with
every movement in a souped-up dumka, a major attempt to integrate folk
dances with symphonic procedures.

Somewhere between these superior parlor pieces and the Theme and Variations
lie Silhouettes.  They share the emotional locus of the former but come
across as conceived for the piano, rather than for the orchestra.  The
liner notes, by Kevin Bazzana, argue an influence of Beethoven's op.  126
Bagatelles (spectacularly misnamed), but to me Dvorak's pieces stand in the
same relation to that earlier masterpiece as Billy Batson does to Captain
Marvel.  Beethoven is altogether wilder and more powerful, even within a
short space, and saying "Shazam" won't help.  Nevertheless, the Silhouettes
charm on their own terms, and there's plenty of Dvorak's own character in
them to make delightful listening.  Besides, it doesn't have to be
Beethoven in the first place.

I've reviewed Poroshina before (piano miniatures by Liadov, ESS.A.Y
CD1045).  On that earlier disc, I sensed a pianist unsuited to short
works, especially the super-short works by Liadov, which shut down almost
immediately.  She seemed to need breathing room to make her expressive
points - an impression confirmed, in a positive way, on this CD.  Although
many of Dvorak's movements last no longer than Liadov's piano pieces,
they're not the work of a true miniaturist.  Dvorak habitually thinks
symphonically, which means that his phrases open up and connect to the
next, rather than - as in most songs, for example - stand on their own.
Think of Gershwin's "Swanee," where the verse - "I've been away from you
a long time" - has only the most tenuous connection to the rousing chorus.
In fact, I doubt most people know the verse.  Gershwin's a rare bird, like
Schubert:  in contrast to most composers, both can work the miniature as
well as the symphonic vein.  Dvorak's ideas need room to show off at their
best.  So we have an ideal fit of music to performer.  Both composer and
pianist supply the necessary to the other.

Poroshina makes an eloquent case for the two big works - the Silhouettes
and the Theme and Variations.  She manages to tie the smaller movements
together in larger spans, particularly with the variations, which she seems
to take in one giant "go." Yet she works in plenty of ebb and flow.  She
doesn't drive or hurry the music but finds a "natural" contour.  Her tone
is rich and slightly dark, but without melodrama or trying to puff these
works up beyond their natural limit.  It sounds, to some extent, relaxed,
but the ease belongs to an aristocratic, elegant musical mind.  Her piano
sings and ruminates with just the proper amount of weight.  Not a terrific
fan of Dvorak's piano concerto or his song accompaniments, I admit my
pleasant surprise as to the quality of works presented here.  Undoubtedly,
however, Poroshina works to convince you.  It would be easy to gloss over
these pieces and miss their charm.  Based on this album, I'd love to hear
her Brahms.

The recorded sound is comfortably spacious.  Your head is neither floating
about in another room nor nailed to the sounding board.

Steve Schwartz