Fireside Piano

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
The songs on Fireside Piano are some of the most traditional and popular romantic songs. Each song is performed with a classical piano interpretation making it one of the most popular of Newell Oler's recordings.

Tracks:

BACH Goldberg Variations, Aria
SCHUMANN Piano Sonata in f# minor, II. Aria
CHOPIN Ballade No. 1
MOZART Piano Concert No. 24, II. Larghetto
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2, Adagio
BEETHOVEN Moonlight Sonata, Adagio Sostenuto
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition: The Old Castle
TCHAIKOVSKY The Seasons, October: Song of Autumn
BRAHMS Sonata for Two Pianos, Andante
BACH Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Prelude 22

Tracks:

SATIE Gymnopedie No. 1
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1, Larghetto
DEBUSSY Claire de Lune
MOZART Sonata in a minor, Andante cantabile
BEETHOVEN Fse
MUSSORGSKY Rrie
TCHAIKOVSKY The Seasons, January: At the Fireside
BRAHMS Piano Sonata No. 3, II. Andante espressivo
DVORAK Piano Trio No. 3, III. Poco adagio
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto, II. Andante gracioso

Customer Reviews:

Solid collection of piano favorites.......2006-11-10

If you can gag your way past the album title, this is a most pleasant collection of beloved classical piano pieces that actually is relaxing, I suppose.

Average customer rating:

Not so bad
Simplicity, clarity, brevity.
AN ENCHANTING PARCEL OF NEGLECTED MACDOWELL

MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Edward Macdowell: Piano Music, Vol. 2
Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 3
Edward MacDowell: Piano Music, Vol. 4
MacDowell: Piano Concertos
MacDowell: Suites Nos. 1 & 2, Hamlet & Ophelia / Ulster Orchestra, Yuasa

ASIN: B00000DHTE
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Wild Rose
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Will-O'-The-Wisp
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: At An Old Trysting Place
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: In Autumn
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From An Indian Lodge
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: To A Water-Lily
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: From Uncle Remus
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: A Deserted Farm
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: By A Meadow Brook
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: Told At Sunset
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: To The Sea
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From A Wandering Iceberg
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: A.D. MDCXX
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Starlight
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Song
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: From The Depths
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: Nautilus
Sea Pieces, Op. 55: In Mid-Ocean
Fireside Tales, Op.61: An Old Love Story
Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Br'er Rabbit
Fireside Tales, Op.61: From A German Forest
Fireside Tales, Op.61: Of Salamanders
Fireside Tales, Op.61: A Haunted House
Fireside Tales, Op.61: By Smouldering Embers
New England Idyls, Op. 62: An Old Garden
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Summer
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Mid-Winter
New England Idyls, Op. 62: With Sweet Lavender
New England Idyls, Op. 62: In Deep Woods
New England Idyls, Op. 62: Indian Idyl
New England Idyls, Op. 62: To An Old White Pine
New England Idyls, Op. 62: From Puritan Days
New England Idyls, Op. 62: From A Log Cabin
New England Idyls, Op. 62: The Joy Of Autumn

Amazon.com

Many listeners will immediately recognize the opening piece on this disc, To a Wild Rose, one of MacDowell's best inspirations. However, even after a couple of hearings, they'll probably have trouble recognizing the rest of these pieces, none of which has the same kind of inspiration. MacDowell's deeply held belief that American music should copy European models was also his limitation. This music is historically important, but as a listening experience, it has the same effect as second-rate imitations of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. Barbagallo's lovely playing, a fine memorial to this regrettably short-lived artist, makes the music sound better than it really is, and the recorded piano tone is beautiful. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Not so bad.......2006-05-16

The Amazon reviewer (Gerber) is too condescending by half. No sensible listener would rate these pieces as the equal of efforts by the likes of Mozart or Schubert, and Macdowell never claimed they were. They are interesting period pieces, composed with a good deal of charm and skill. It is amusing that Gerber likens them to second-rate versions of the Grieg Lyric Pieces - as if those pieces were worth imitating. Even Macdowell knew better than to copy junk like that.

Simplicity, clarity, brevity........2001-08-17

These vignettes are not bravura performances (such as Chopin, Polonaise in A-flat), but short and brief tellings of a larger story.

The only criticisms I have is that pianist James Barbagallo played, "To a Wild Rose", a bit too fast for my taste, and MacDowell might have written a different, "From a Wandering Iceberg", had he lived to see the Titanic disaster.

AN ENCHANTING PARCEL OF NEGLECTED MACDOWELL.......2000-07-26

A master of the piano vignette, as these pieces aptly and beautifully illustrate, MacDowell (1860-1908) remains, for the most part, remembered solely as the composer of "To A Wild Rose," the first piece in his collection of Woodland Sketches, Op. 51, incomprehensible as it may seem.

MacDowell is a bit of a paradox. Musically schooled in Europe, admired by Liszt, taught by Raff, and having his own viewpoints about composition, nobody typifies, personifies or exemplifies what one might call the "New England School" like MacDowell does. He's rather the Thoreau of New England music, actually, and especially the piano vignette, of which he is a master.

Just look at the titles: Woodland Sketches, Fireside Tales, New England Idyls, Sea Pieces. For me, this music is New England. There's more nostalgia in these four sets than you can shake a stick at! But, you know, in this case, more is better, not less. This music has no whiff of the salon; it's of a particular place in America that calls to our very roots. It has a feel that cannot be accurately described. A mood. An ambience that resonates to the bottom of our consciousness. We become immersed in a dreamy reverie of our collected experiences, nostalgic yearnings, of people, places and things that have gone before... and are no longer. It's that kind of music.

It reminds me of my childhood, of late Autumn days, the smell of burning leaves as Halloween crept nearer, of rainy days, of places lost and found and lost again, walks on the beach at sunset, quiet evenings watching the embers fade in the fireplace, of first loves gone, of lighthouses... of sweet and bittersweet melancholy. That kind of music. The kind of music that one "knows" without ever having heard before, innate within us all, and reaching down to our very fiber. And that is the wonder, beauty and profundity of MacDowell.

[Running time: 63:49]

Average customer rating:

Mountain Standards Time

Manufacturer: Guacamole
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00007EFIO
Release Date: 2002-10-25

Tracks:

You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
Someone to Watch Over Me
When You Wish Upon a Star
Laura
Now is the Hour
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Our Love is Here to Stay
I've Got You Under My Skin
Tenderly
Over the Rainbow
My One and Only Love
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Album Description

This new solo piano release by veteran keyboardist Paul Potyen contains twelve classic jazz standards, performed in an understated, elegant manner. "I felt it was time to record some of my all-time favorite tunes in a simple, straightforward style," Potyen remarks. "It's in keeping with my current lifestyle, having recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Steamboat Springs, CO."

The CD shows yet another side of the versatile pianist, who has played with the Tony Williams Lifetime, the Headhunters, Chet Baker, Mel Torme, Jimmy Witherspoon, Tom Harrell, Mark Murphy, Bobby McFerrin, Mark Isham, and the San Francisco Symphony, to name a few.

His previous outing—also on Guacamole Records—was as pianist with Latin-Jazz group Soul Sauce. Titled, "Got Sauce?", that release has garnered excellent reviews with its Cal Tjader-inspired sound.

Fireside Piano
Average customer rating:

I heard it at a friend's house

Relaxing and beautiful

Fireside Piano
Newell Oler
Manufacturer: NOME Co. of Dallas, Inc.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music
General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music
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Because You Asked

All The Day Long

Wandering and Remembering

Autumn Song

Listen To The Calm

ASIN: B0000638SE
Release Date: 1998-08-01

Tracks:

Out Of This World
One Love
Bless The Beasts and the Children
You Go To My Head
Lovely
Out Of My Dreams
Hurting Each Other
Send In The Clowns
Through The Eyes Of Love
Chopin Sonata Theme
Not Going Home Anymore
Theme From Love Story
Romeo and Juliet
Whoever You Are, I Love You
Somewhere My Love

Album Description

This CD features solo piano arrangements of romantic songs, played in a classical style

Customer Reviews:

I heard it at a friend's house.......2007-05-09

Well I heard about 3 minutes of this CD at a friend's house and asked her what it was. That's how I found out about this music. It is what I like, which is solo piano music, played in a very smooth, easy-going, but not MUSAK style. I just ordered it for my wife for our Anniversary.

Relaxing and beautiful.......2004-07-17

Every cut is wonderful. Purchase this CD if you want to be transported to a beautiful world through music.

Average customer rating:

Saucy, Melodic, Old-Fashioned American Wind Quintet Music

Vintage America: A Musical Meritage

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0002NY8LM
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Tracks:

Dance Antique
Fireside Tales
Divertimento
Prairie Miniature
Miniatures
Folk Suite
Two Rags
Sea Sketches
Stars & Stripes

Album Description

America began forging its own cultural identity in the 19th Century with music reflecting a vast array of cultures coming together. By the time the first music conservatory opened in 1865, European classical music had begun to be mingled with music influenced by Native American themes, African-American styles of ragtime and spirituals, Latin American and rural American folk music, and the traditional military band. With Vintage America, Calico Winds showcases these American musical roots. Known for exploring the full palette of tone colors available to the wind quintet, Calico Winds plays "in perfect balance with each other, each [member] contributing lovely tone quality and flawless intonation…" (The Times Herald, Olean, NY) It is with these attributes that Calico Winds brings to life America's rich musical legacy.

Customer Reviews:

Saucy, Melodic, Old-Fashioned American Wind Quintet Music.......2004-09-13

[Disclaimer: I'm a pushover for wind quintet music. There is something about the uneasy combination of timbres that unfailingly engages my interest and admiration.]

I found myself having trouble getting beyond the first band on this delightful release from Albany Records featuring the playing of a Los Angeles-based wind quintet calling themselves 'Calico Winds.' I kept pushing the repeat button to hear it one more time. It's that rhythmically invigorating and melodic. The music presented here is almost all by Americans, some from among those first conservatory-trained American composers of the 19th-century: William Mason, his nephew Daniel Gregory Mason, and Edward MacDowell. The more recent composers tend to write in conservative style so that the most recent work, 'Sea Sketches' by the only non-American, Briton David B. Chadwick, could be mistaken for something by an early twentieth-century writer. Some of the pieces are skillful transcriptions for quintet: Mason's 'Dance Antique,' that infectious first band I'd mentioned; MacDowell's 'Fireside Tales,' William Grant Still's folk-song based 'Miniatures' and 'Folk Suite,' Scott Joplin's 'Two Rags' ('The Cascades' and 'Maple Leaf Rag'), and the rousing closer, Sousa's 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.' Indeed, the only works originally written for wind quintet are Daniel Gregory Mason's 'Divertimento,' Arthur Farwell's brief and delightful 'Prairie Miniature,' and Chadwick's 'Sea Sketches.' That latter, by the way, has a catchy setting of 'The Sailors' Hornpipe,' another piece I couldn't get enough of.

Calico Winds consists of five women: Eileen Holt Helwig, flute and piccolo; Rong-Huey Liu, oboe and English horn; Rachel Berry, horn; Kathryn Nevin, clarinet; and Theresa Treuenfels, bassoon. I'd never heard of this expert and musicianly group before, although I gather they have made at least one prior recording on the humorously named 'Occasionally Sober' label and containing music from Bach to Zappa. I expect we'll be hearing from them again, if we're lucky.

This is not profound music. This is joyful music. It's worth hearing, and more important, worth coming to love. A real keeper, this.

TT=62:00

Scott Morrison

Average customer rating:

Original Recordings, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Nostalgia | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Ragtime | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Side by Side [Over She Goes] - Billy Mayerl,
Intro/County Wedding/The Dance Goes On/I Breathe on Windows [Over ...]
Four Aces (Suite): Ace of Hearts
Bats in the Belfry
Nimble-Fingered Gentleman
Mistletoe
Crazy Days (Piano Selection): Intro/Stranger in a Teacup/Nice People
Aquarium Suite: Willow Moss
Aquarium Suite: Morrish Idol
Aquarium Suite: Fantail
Aquarium Suite: Whirligig
Orange Blossom
Parade of the Sandwich-Board Men
Phil the Fluter's Ball
Runaway Love (Selection): Intro/Two Hearts in Harmony/We Can't Do ...
Stepping Tones (Suite): Hop-O'-My-Thumb
Fools Rush In
All the Things You Are
Sweet Nothings
Sweet William
Resting
Fireside Fusiliers

Average customer rating:

British Light Music: Billy Mayerl

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Marigold
A Lily Pond
Four Aces Suite: Ace Of Clubs
Four Aces Suite: Ace Of Diamonds
Four Aces Suite: Ace Of Hearts
Four Aces Suite: Ace Of Spades
From A Spanish Lattice
Minuet By Candlelight
Aquarium Suite: No. 1 Willow Moss
Aquarium Suite: No. 2 Moorish Idol
Aquarium Suite: No. 3 Fantail
Aquarium Suite: No. 4 Whirligig
Autumn Crocus
Bats In The Belfry
Pastoral Sketches: No. 1 A Legend
Pastoral Sketches: No. 2 Lovers' Lane
Pastoral Sketches: No. 3 A Village Festival
Fireside Fusiliers
Parade Of The Sandwich-Board Men
Waltz For A Lonely Heart
Busybody

Average customer rating:

Fireside Piano
Newell Oler
Manufacturer: The Orchard
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00009YULP
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Tracks:

Out Of This World
One Love
Bless The Beasts and the Children
You Go To My Head
Lovely
Out Of My Dreams
Hurting Each Other
Send In The Clowns
Through The Eyes Of Love
Chopin Sonata Theme
Not Going Home Anymore
Theme From Love Story
Romeo and Juliet
Whoever You Are, I Love You
Somewhere My Love

Album Description

The songs on Fireside Piano are some of the most traditional and popular romantic songs. Each song is performed with a classical piano interpretation making it one of the most popular of Newell Oler's recordings.