Norman Lloyd's Dramatic Episode

So there was this Kickstarter a couple of years ago:

I'm glad to say that this project was funded 101%, though I haven't the foggiest when the CD will get released - I'd buy it.  Peter Mennin was one of the more interesting mid-century American composers of his ilk, and has a well-established cult following around his 9 symphonies.  His two piano works, the well-wrought Five Pieces and the striking (and strikingly difficult) Piano Sonata, are fine additions to the rep and should be sought out as you will (scores for both pieces HERE, recording of the five pieces HERE).  Much less known to me, and the world, is Norman Lloyd, a student of Copland's and most well known for this:

The Fireside Book of Folk Songs was a classic collection of Western culture's folk heritage, cast in easy piano arrangements and adorned with sweet, picture-book illustrations.  Plenty of people had this in the Boomer years but I bet few people paid attention to its editors, and Norman Lloyd has never had a revival as of this writing (aside from that unreleased CD).  A cursory look at the works of his in University libraries looks promising enough (like the intriguing Night Mist for string orchestra), and his two piano pieces are quite lovely.  The Piano Sonata might not be the most surprising American work in the genre but it's certainly breezy, well-written and enjoyable - it'd make an interesting match with the Mennin Sonata's sturm und drang.  I actually came across the other piece, Episodes, in the Boston University library stacks, and didn't think about it much until I saw the Kickstarter and gave it a whirl.  The Episodes are quite fun to play and maintain a level of elegance and sophistication despite their relative simplicity (especially in the face of those Mennin pieces).  Much to my delight I found that one of them was a leaf, and I whipped up a recording so you can be given the chance at delightment.

The chromatically cycling, emotionally fraught melody is heightened by the icy upper registers of the piano, each note emphatically pronounced by a tenuto-staccato mix.  The held diad implies a Sus-2 chord (for those who remember jazz theory), and the melody's snaky plodding is reminiscent of the opening to the "Cemetery" movement of Abel Decaux's Clairs de Lune (second Decaux callback this week!  I'm on a roll).  This builds and builds to the  ice-clash fortissimo in bar 6, the low register clangs in with much doom.  A more sensitive section reveals Lloyd's ability to write polytonal music with utmost clarity and an ear for dramatic pacing, and the piece ends with more bell-like chords, leaving things neatly unresolved.  The fifth and final episode is light and whirling, more than stark as a contrast and a joyous end to an already entertaining set of miniatures.  This is easily the darkest movement but isn't unwelcome in the least bit, and offers the pianist a lot of emotional wiggle room.  I took some liberties with the time but the melody was asking for it, and I may get around to the other episodes in the future.  So once again, why hasn't this CD been released yet?  I'm sure people would like it, and I've got my fingers poised over my mouse in hopes of a pre-order button appearing, so chop! chop!, Mr. Silberstein.

~PNK