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Lost in the shadow cast by Copland, Elie Siegmeister was an original and daring voice in American music. Like Copland, Siegmeister studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and returned home to work as a composer. He joined forces with other young American ground breakers such as Henry Cowell and Marc Blizstein. Siegmeister embraced America's roots music, folk and blues, and his compositional style was direct and concise in utterance. Siegmeister is remembered for promoting a new interest in American folk music and influencing the next generation of American composers.The highlight of this volume of piano music is Siegmeister's poetic and folksy 'Sunday in Brooklyn,' a five movement suite that pays tribute to suburban life. Pianist Kenneth Boulton is ideal, capturing the work's easy going lyricism and Gershwin-like swing. In a different mood, Boulton pulls out all the stops in the virtuoso "Piano Sonata no. 3." This harmonically complicated work is filled with a rugged energy that is animates every note, presenting challenges that Boulton masters with his dazzling technique.
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