RUTHANNE SCHEMPF

• Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin: Romance

"Ruthanne Schempf...is a new name to me, but judging from this release, I hope to hear more of her... Schempf’s program shows intelligence and imagination: Schempf’s rendition [of the Griffes] is as good as any of the others. She displays impressive technical command and brings clarity to the densely written passages... Schempf accords [the Nevin works] all the poetry this music requires. Likewise, four of MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches are played with sensitivity and delicacy... everything Schempf plays is either deeply serious, eminently pleasing, or both. Her sound is especially impressive—full, rich, sonorous in the low range, never clanky in the high. This program should find a place in most any collection that still needs some early American piano music in it."

Robert Markow, Fanfare - November / December 2009

"From pearly luminescence to determined rigour, Schempf has a compelling style for all seasons."

BBC Music Magazine - December 2009 [ * * * * ]

"Ruthanne Schempf seems to have the lyrical effusions of [the composers] in her blood... Beach's two Hermit Thrushes sing gorgeously; MacDowell's Wild Rose blooms radiantly. "

American Record Guide - November / December 2009

"Schempf gives a strong account of the [Griffes]...  Schempf has chosen some very attractive and less often heard American piano pieces that escape the sentimentality that prevails in this literature... it’s a pleasure to hear Schempf switch gears and play these romantic works with charm and flexibility... Schempf plays [the Beach works] exquisitely..."

Paul Orgel, Classical Voice of New England - October 2009

At the turn of the 20th century, “American art music” was actually German Romanticism practiced by New England composers such as Nevin, Foote, MacDowell and Beach. The harmonically and programmatically rich stew was standard fare in home parlors and on concert stages alike. This now mostly forgotten music disappeared due to a combination of reasons including anti-German sentiment during World War I and social changes resulting from America’s growing industrialization and immigration. It may be difficult to imagine Mrs. Beach and Mr. Foote living and composing at the same time as Aaron Copland but in fact, they did and knew that their music was no longer “modern.” For them, cultivating German Romanticism in 19th century America had been a revolutionary improvement over more primitive home-grown efforts. The next generation, similarly reinvented themselves in new musical language. The sway of German Romanticism is little evident in Griffes’ 1919 Piano Sonata but is completely absent in Copland’s Piano Variations composed a mere 11 years later.

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Ruthanne Schempf is a graduate of Michigan State University where she studied piano with Ralph Votapek. After completing Bachelor degrees in piano and music literature, she returned to New York for graduate study under Robert Goldsand, Constance Keene and Marc Silverman at the Manhattan School of Music, ultimately earning a DMA. For many years, Dr. Schempf was on the faculty at Marist College in New York, and was the pianist for the Cadet Glee Club at West Point. She is a member of the Poné Ensemble for New Music and on the faculty of SUNY New Paltz where she teaches piano, music history and theory. Dr. Schempf is also an active chamber and solo musician and has performed throughout the United States. She is also a co-founder of the non-profit Hudson Valley Society for Music which produces Potluck Concerts and the annual Hudson Valley BachFest. In the summers, she teaches piano at the Interlochen Arts Camp.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 – 1920)
PIANO SONATA

Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 – 1901)
ETUDE IN FORM OF A ROMANCE, OP.18, NO.1
ETUDE IN FORM OF A SCHERZO, OP.18, NO.2

Arthur Foote (1853 – 1937)
FIVE POEMS (after OMAR KHAYYÁM), OP.41

Mrs. H.H.A. [Amy Marcy Cheney] Beach (1867 – 1944)
A HERMIT THRUSH AT EVE, OP.92, NO.1A HERMIT THRUSH AT MORN, OP.92, NO.2

Edward MacDowell (1860 – 1908)
WOODLAND SKETCHES, OP.51

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)
PIANO VARIATIONS (1930)
 

MSR Classics