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FOUR AMERICAN PIANO SONATAS. William Doppmann, Piano, EQ27, Equilibrium
William Doppmann, a graduate of the University of Michigan, has carved a distinguished career as a concert artist throughout the world. As a composer, he brings additional insight to interpretations, as his disc of four American piano sonatas illustrates. He selected four representative works, written from 1895 to 1949; Edward MacDowell’s Sonata No. 2 (“Eroica”), Charles Griffes’s Sonata (1918), Ross Lee Finney’s Sonata No. 4 (“Christmastime 1945”) and Samuel Barber’s Sonata Op. 26. Doppmann comments that “Formerly, the two heroic four movement sonatas (the MacDowell, in an earlier format, had programmatic titles relating the whole to the legend of Arthur) move from sonata allegro structures through scherzos and slow movements to culminating fast-paced finales (the Barber ends with a triumphant fugue). The shorter sonatas, chronologically the middle two . . . each representative of different styles within the continuum, present multisectional music breathed out ‘in one breath’ - a condensation of the time-scale. Cross-cutting these formal procedures, two sonatas end in fierce bursts of energy (Griffes and Barber), two quietly subside with a feeling of meditation and gathering repose” (Doppmann, liner notes).
The performance is magnificent, with a rich tone, non-strident fortissimos, absolute clarity, and control. This disc belongs especially in libraries, both academic and private, and also in personal collections of music lovers.
from PAN PIPES winter 2001
SAI national publication
Review by Jocelyn Mackey
William Doppmann, a graduate of the University of Michigan, has carved a distinguished career as a concert artist throughout the world. As a composer, he brings additional insight to interpretations, as his disc of four American piano sonatas illustrates. He selected four representative works, written from 1895 to 1949; Edward MacDowell’s Sonata No. 2 (“Eroica”), Charles Griffes’s Sonata (1918), Ross Lee Finney’s Sonata No. 4 (“Christmastime 1945”) and Samuel Barber’s Sonata Op. 26. Doppmann comments that “Formerly, the two heroic four movement sonatas (the MacDowell, in an earlier format, had programmatic titles relating the whole to the legend of Arthur) move from sonata allegro structures through scherzos and slow movements to culminating fast-paced finales (the Barber ends with a triumphant fugue). The shorter sonatas, chronologically the middle two . . . each representative of different styles within the continuum, present multisectional music breathed out ‘in one breath’ - a condensation of the time-scale. Cross-cutting these formal procedures, two sonatas end in fierce bursts of energy (Griffes and Barber), two quietly subside with a feeling of meditation and gathering repose” (Doppmann, liner notes).
The performance is magnificent, with a rich tone, non-strident fortissimos, absolute clarity, and control. This disc belongs especially in libraries, both academic and private, and also in personal collections of music lovers.
from PAN PIPES winter 2001
SAI national publication
Review by Jocelyn Mackey