From Stephen Foster and Scott Joplin to George Gershwin and Aaron Copland, this new anthology features a diverse array of piano music by outstanding American composers. Among the 39 classics included here are "The Joy of Autumn," by Edward MacDowell, a leading exponent of the Romantic tradition; Charles Griffes' impressionistic "The Lake at Evening; and "The Banjo," one of Louis Gottschalk's electrifying salon pieces, inspired by African-American culture.
Other favorite compositions in this volume are Amy Beach's "Scottish Legend"; John Alden Carpenter's "Polonaise Américaine"; "Kitten on the Keys" by Zez Confrey; Copland's "The Cat and the Mouse" and "Passacaglia"; Henry Cowell's "The Tides of Manaunaun"; "Rialto Ripples" by Gershwin; "Indian Summer" by Victor Herbert; Joplin's "Bethena"; and Joseph Lamb's "Ragtime Nightingale." Additional works by "Blind Tom" Bethune, Harry T. Burleigh, James Reese Europe, Arthur Farwell, Howard Hanson, and many other American composers complete this exceptional collection.
Sure to delight amateur and professional pianists alike, this attractive and inexpensive volume also contains an informative introduction by Joseph Smith, who has recorded a number of works for piano by American composers.