Piano Sonata / Piano Fantasy
This extremely useful disc collects Copland's major piano works in fine performances. None of these pieces has much similarity to Copland's greatest hits likeAppalachian SpringorBilly the Kid. They are among the composer's most adventurous works of their periods (one each from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s), and none is "easy listening." Instead, each one offers challenging, exciting music of great substance and greatly differing form, from the strict Variations to the lengthy, ruminative Fantasy. Interestingly enough, they are programmed here in reverse chronological order. Copland once told a friend that the Piano Variations was his favorite of his works. Pasternack makes you understand why, with a riveting, intense performance, more austere and thus grander than any since the composer's own magnificent version from 78s. Copland's friend Leo Smit recorded a more comprehensive collection of his piano music, worth having for its completeness. But Pasternack's playing serves the music even better than Smit's. The recorded sound is excellent and so are the program notes.--Leslie Gerber