Phillip Ramey: Piano Music, Volume Four: 1959-2011
The piano music of the American composer Phillip Ramey (born in 1939) is rooted in the motoric athleticism of Prokofiev and Bartók, tempered with sober lyricism, spicy modernist dissonance and a fresh approach to the grand Romantic gesture. This fourth Toccata Classics album includes the virtuosic Cossack Variations, the mercurial Epigrams, Book Two and Lament for Richard III, a dramatic character-study of a famous historical villain. Two sonatas add further substance to a varied programme: No. 3, serially inflected and culminating in a barbaric finale; and No. 7, infused with declamatory rhetoric, quirky rhythm and engaging melody.
Stephen Gosling, piano
Listen To This Recording:
-
Incantations (1960; rev. 1982)
- I Allegro
- II Andante
- III Con moto
- Theme (Moderato)
- Variation 1 (L’istesso tempo)
- Variation 2 (Allegretto)
- Variation 3 (Allegro)
- Variation 4 (Allegro moderato)
- Variation 5 (Moderato)
- Variation 6 (Adagio)
- Variation 7 (Moderato con moto)
- Variation 8 (Allegro con spirito)
- Variation 9 (Vivace)
- Variation 10 (Andante lirico)
- Variation 11 (Vivace)
- Variation 12 (Andante)
- Variation 13 (Andante maestoso)
- I Andante lugubrioso
- II Adagio enigmatico
- III Allegro giocoso
- I Moderato austero
- II Andante meditativo
- III Allegro demonico
- I Calm
- II Melancholy
- III Scornful
- IV Desolate
- V Demonic
- VI Solemn
- VII Grandiose
- VIII Lyrical
- IX Angry
- Lament for Richard III (2001)
- I Adagio con moto; Scherzando; Alla marcia; Tempo I
- II Adagio lirico
- III Andante; Presto; Allegro moderato; Presto
Cossack Variations (1981/85)
Three Early Preludes (1959; rev. 1996)
Piano Sonata No. 3 (1968; rev. 2010)
Epigrams, Book Two (1986)
Piano Sonata No. 7 (2010–11)
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Ramey is most fortunate in having a commentator of Folkman’s caliber to discuss his music in some depth, and in having a pianist whose renditions he can endorse as “absolute perfection.” Therefore one can state confidently that this release, along with its predecessors, makes the best possible case for Phillip Ramey as a composer of considerable stature.’
—Walter Simmons, Fanfare Magazine September/October 2013