SIX CHARACTERISTIC PIECES by George Whitefield Chadwick, Peter Kairoff pianist

The SIX CHARACTERISTIC PIECES FOR PIANO, Op. 7, date from 1883, not long after the young George Whitefield Chadwick returned to Boston after his three years of study in Europe. Chadwick had received very encouraging public notices of his compositions while in Germany, but he was mostly unknown to the musical public upon his return to the United States. The SIX CHARACTERISTIC PIECES are written in a style that would have appealed to a wide audience. A few of the pieces are brief and relatively simple to learn, and others, such as the SCHERZINO or the final ETUDE are quite demanding of the pianist. All are classic Character Pieces, exploring one compelling mood or idea, with perhaps a brief contrasting "B" section to offset the main idea. The pieces are: Congratulation, Please Do, Scherzino, Reminiscence of Chopin, Irish Melody, and Etude.

The music of George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) is not nearly as well known as it ought to be. Although widely respected and admired in his lifetime, his music fell into relative obscurity after his death, and is only recently being performed once more with any frequency. His piano music, in particular, has suffered from neglect: very few of these pieces have ever been recorded before. Why this should be so remains something of a mystery, for many of Chadwick's piano works display the same inventiveness, charm and craftsmanship found in his orchestral and chamber works.

The title of this disc -- American Character -- reflects the fact that all of Chadwick's piano music is written in the style of the "Character Piece": brief, memorable evocations of one particular mood or image. Chadwick was certainly able to craft large-scale forms when he wanted to, as he did in his symphonies and chamber works to great effect. But his piano works are all on a smaller scale, like Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, Grieg's Lyric Pieces, and so many other piano pieces of the nineteenth century. And, like those models, Chadwick's piano music often evokes the world of Art Song, that wonderful and evocative fusion of poetry and music which was so popluar in the nineteenth century. Like Art Song, these piano pieces capture a single vivid mood or visual image a rushing stream, an aspen tree shuddering in the breeze, or even a group of noisy frogs. Most of these works are written in Song Form, a relatively simple ternary structure of ABA. A mood is created, an image evoked, and then it is over. This avoids the problems of large-scale formal development inherent in the genres of Sonata or Symphony, but it also has the advantage of allowing a single mood or image to resonate more intensely in the mind of the listener.

Peter Kairoff was born in Los Angeles, and studied at the University of Southern California, where he received Master's and Doctoral degrees with highest honors. He also studied in Italy for two years as a Fulbright Scholar and Rotary International Fellow. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and the State University of New York, and is currently Professor of Music at Wake Forest University, where he has taught since 1988.

He has performed throughout the United States and Europe and South America to great critical acclaim. His recordings of American 19th Century composers have received enthusiastic reviews from the Washington Post, Fanfare, ClassicsToday.com, and many others.

This music is from the CD "American Character: Piano Music of George Whitefield Chadwick" published by Albany Records.