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Hanren Zhang's Dances and Dreams · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:00
  This is Jed Dissler and welcome to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:15
  The pianist Hanwen Zhang is a veteran of several competitions and has a doctorate from the
• 0:22
  University of Georgia where he studied with Lisa Stepanova.
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  He recently released a CD on the MSR Classics label called Dances and Dreams, which is
• 0:34
  basically a collection of dance pieces by composers from all over the world.
• 0:39
  It's a very intelligently programmed and curated compilation that contains 54 and a
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  half minutes worth of interesting music.
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  I just have one reservation that I have to get out of the way and that's that the sound
• 0:55
  quality is not really world class.
• 0:58
  It sounds like a recording that was made in a very small sized hall where the microphones
• 1:03
  were at a good distance from the piano.
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  However, the playing is full of energy and life and a genuine dancing impulse informs
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  nearly every selection.
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  Hanwen Zhang opens this disc with El Puerto from Iberia by Albanias and the performance
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  has just the right thrust and exuberance.
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  There's a pair of Chopin mazurkas, there's a pair of Smetana polkas, and a pair of Norwegian
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  peasant dances by Grieg.
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  All of these are very idiomatically rendered.
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  Also idiomatically rendered are the six Romanian folk dances by Bartok.
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  There are some dances by two African composers, Joshua Uzoegwe, I hope I pronounced his name
• 1:52
  right, and Quabene Quabena, and he plays these really well.
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  There are two dances by Hinastera that perhaps could swing a little bit more, but two selections
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  from Darius Mio's Sualdades do Brasil really do swing and these are basically gentle, bitonal
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  rumbas and they segue very easily into a couple of pieces by Ernesto Lecuana.
• 2:24
  Here I suspect that Hanwen Zhang builds the climaxes to much louder effect than the recording
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  actually reveals.
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  I know that I'm going to be returning to this disc for certain individual selections if
• 2:40
  not listening to it all from beginning to end again, although I shouldn't say never,
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  I think maybe I will.
• 2:48
  But this kind of collection with short pieces is exactly the kind of thing that classical
• 2:53
  radio stations might wish to have on hand when a DJ needs to fill out an hour with some
• 3:00
  music.
• 3:02
  And I think it's a wonderful disc for anyone who likes to put mixed classical piano playlists
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  together, as I often do on my radio show Between the Keys that airs on the classical network
• 3:14
  and WWFM.org.
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  I also should mention that the booklet notes provide detailed information about each work,
• 3:24
  both from a musical and historical perspective, and that's very useful to have.
• 3:30
  Anyway, a link to this CD and its contents can be found in the episode information.
• 3:38
  This is Jed Dissler, and thank you for listening to the Piano Maven and for all of your support.
• 3:44
  Please tell your fellow piano lovers about this podcast.
• 3:48
  I look forward to being with you next time.