Joseph Fennimore: Celebration

Joseph Fennimore & Gordon Hibberd, Gordon Hibberd, Joseph Fennimore

Catalog #: TROY1767
Release Date: May 1, 2019
Format: Digital
Instrumental

This recording celebrates and commemorates 60 years of the deepest friendship between pianists Joseph Fennimore and Gordon Hibberd, with 16 four-hand waltzes performed by both as well as sonatas performed by composer/pianist Joseph Fennimore. The waltz recordings were made during the 1990s on three different occasions at three different locations and the Sonatas and Sonatinas during the 1960s. Both Fennimore and Hibberd received degrees from Eastman. They lived in New York City pursuing their careers until the 1980s when they relocated to New York's Capital District. This will be the 10th recording released by Albany Records of the music of Joseph Fennimore whose music has been called " a disarming mix of spare lyricism, poignancy and gently nose thumbing irreverence "

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Track Listing

Title Composer Performer
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Rendezvous Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Moon Waltz Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Waltz Romantique Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Waltz Cinematique Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Skater's Waltz Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: Gallop Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: That Old World Charm Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 2: At The Barre Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Favorite Things Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: In The Garden Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Trialogue: Chabrier, Ravel, Satie Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Party Waltz Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Boulevard Waltz Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Diaghilev Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: The Beast Dreams of Dancing with Beauty Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
Eight Waltzes, Book 1: Au Revoir Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano); Gordon Hibberd (piano)
First Sonata Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)
Second Sonata Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)
First Sonatina Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)
Third Sonatina Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)
Passacalle Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)
The Lady is NOT A Tramp Joseph Fennimore Joseph Fennimore (piano)

Reviews

  • ":The music is definitely American, original, but with influences from Ives and Gershwin to Copland and Barber. It is well constructed and definitively performed, with sensitivity as well as the required gusto and excitement. It also complements several CS of Fennimore's music and his solo piano recitals available from Albany Records ."

    – American Record Guide

  • "the main focus of this release is Fennimore's attractive, accessible, idiomatic, and inventive piano music. His style is conservative on the surface, yet within the first few seconds of a piece Fennimore's rich harmonic palette and natural melodic gifts seduce you, and you're hooked. What does the music sound like? Poulenc might come to mind, or Ned Rorem, or Paul Bowles. Maybe Fauré reincarnated and updated. The First sonata's middle movement is one of several examples where Fennimore in the 1960s foreshadows Stephen Sondheim in the 1980s. Almost all of the works on this disc are short and succinct. There's really no difference between Fennimore's Sonatas or Sonatinas, since they consist of extremely brief movements that tend to be lean and pointed. By contrast, the 16 waltzes for piano duet contain fuller-bodied sonorities, plus more textural variety and contrapuntal interplay. So is the waltz entitled The Lady is NOT A Tramp, which is a gentle ribbing of semi-cocktail keyboard stylings.the lively precision and character of Fennimore's highly distinctive pianism consistently comes across, and that also goes for the congenial give and take that Fennimore and Hibberd convey in the waltzes. Worth hearing."

    – Classics Today

*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.