Great Music for the 4th of July
Even though the majority of the pieces on the CD American Classics/Louis Moreau Gottschalk/Piano Music with Cecile Licad are Caribbean/Spanish in theme, one should not spend the 4th of July without playing "The Union, Paraphrase de concert on the national airs Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, and Hail Columbia, Op. 48." Let the crowd on the mall in Washington ooh and ah over the 1812 Overture, but Cecile Licad playing Gottschalk is the way to celebrate the fourth. "Le banjo" is my favorite, but then I'm prejudiced, because I am a banjo player.

This interpretation is not for everybody, but it surely does it for me
Cecile Licad's weaving and interweaving of colors and impressions in Gottschalk's music is just totally modern and highly virtuistic. Gottschalk is the Chopin for the Creoles and just like with interpreting Chopin, the liberty for expression is just almost limitless. This is Gottschalk interpretation for the 21st century. I'm not saying that it tries to stamp out the traditional views of his music, but however risky was Licad's direction in this, it pays off as a fresh vibrant work brought once again back to life.

Licad's reading is often not the preferred style for the one's who're satisfied with the Gottschalk sound over a hundred years ago. I believe that her reading is how Gottschalk himself would have played his music should he still be alive today.

As we know, Gottschalk music was way ahead of its time with jazz impressions even half a century to a century in advance.

I like Licad's Gottschalk. It's forward looking, progressive and playing for the ages.

Beautiful, beautiful music!
Listening to this Gottschalk CD hs been a truly rewarding experience. We listen to it everyday, so I'm sure we will be purchasing more of his music.

A very powerful performance
June 7, 2003
This is a very powerful performance by Licad, the first in a long
while. I had a chance to compare her recording with an earlier
recording of Gottschalk's piano works by another (relatively unknown)
pianist, and I must say that the latter recording pales miserably
in comparison to Licad's. Listening to Licad play in this recording,
I can't help but be reminded of Vladimir Horowitz's piano performances
during his heyday. Licad and Horowitz have very similar touch, intensity,
technical prowess and dynamic range. There are 16 piano works works in
this recording, and I must say that all are top caliber performances,
with the possible exception of track #9, Souvenirs de Porto Rico,
Marche de Gibaros, Op.31, where Licad seems to have missed a few
notes and desynchronized the rhythm in a few places. My favorites
are tracks #5 (Tremolo, Grande Etude de Concert), #7 (Manchega,
Etude de Concert), and track #14 (Tournament Galop); in the last
one, you can almost see and hear the horses galloping around the
race track. With the price ... this recording is a genuine steal.
However, I am still waiting to hear Licad play a Liszt, Brahms,
Prokofoiev or Bartok, where I believe we can really hear Horowitz
come alive.

Shock treatment
There are plenty of other pianists who have played Gottschalk's music. These include Eugene List, Alan Mandel, John Arpin, Alan Marks, Philip Martin, and my favorite, Michael Lewin.

This disc has a very good selection of Gottschalk's music. Still, I do not always like Licad's interpretations of his works. Nor is her playing especially clean.

Le banjo, an excellent piece, is played too fast. Give this lady a speeding ticket! Bamboula is played unusually slowly, and there are even a couple of presumably intentional minor errors in rhythm in it. I think it is okay to play parts of it slowly, as Licad did, for dramatic effect, but I am not overly impressed by her performance of it.

When we reach another fine piece, La Savane, the intentional errors in rhythm get worse. I have never heard La Savane played like this before, and I don't like it.

Next is Tremolo. I think Licad does a fine job on this one, both technically and interpretively. And I also like her interpretations of Manchega and The Dying Poet.

Souvenir de Porto Rico is perhaps Gottschalk's best work, and it is technically very difficult. This would have been a great opportunity for Licad to show that she can handle the task. But she chose to do otherwise. It is disappointing.

Most of this disc is simply not Gottschalk as it ought to be played. If someone unfamiliar with Gottschalk wanted to listen to a CD with some of Gottschalk's best works on it, I'd normally recommend one with this set of pieces. But I certainly wouldn't recommend this. I'll give it two stars just for Tremolo, and one more for shock value.