Feminine Fusion

S07 Ep19: At the Keyboard, Part 5

by Diane Jones

January 7, 2023

“The music is within your heart, your soul, your spirit, and this is all I did when I sat at the piano. I just go within.”  – Alice Coltrane

Most instrumentalists can carry their instruments with them.  Not so with pianists.  They need to sit down at a different piano at every new venue, and spend some time – often very little time – learning the unique properties of that instrument.  Does it require a light touch?  Or a heavy one?  And with all of that, they still manage to capture us and carry us down magical paths with the music.  Here are performances from tremendously talented women at the keyboard.

“At the Keyboard, Part 5”

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky:  June, from The Seasons
Stefania Argentieri, piano
“Russian Piano Music Series, vol. 15: Tchaikovsky”
Divine Art 25157

Lewis Spratlan:  Six Rags (excerpts)
Nadia Shpachenko, piano
“Invasion”
Reference Recordings 749

Émile Naoumoff:  Seven Sisters
Bogyeong Lee, piano
“A Story of Life”
MSR Classics 1782

Nininha Gregori:  Cenas Brasileiras (excerpts)
Luciana Soares, piano
“Brasileira: Piano Music by Brazilian Women”
Centaur 2680

Amy Cheney Beach:  Summer Dreams (excerpts)
Deborah Moriarty and Zhihua Tang, piano
“Connecting Cultures: Four Hand Music from Around the World”
Blue Griffin Records

58:29

Feminine Fusion highlights the roles of women in classical music.  Host Diane Jones brings you stories and music of the women who create, perform, and inspire.  Produced in the studios at WCNY-FM.