From the Classical Vault Dept.: Stripling that I was at the time, I remember that there was some excitement in the music press when Ursula Oppens’s recording of “The People United.” came out in 1979, three years after the work premiered at the Kennedy Center in 1976. I bought that record and fell in love with the piece, written by Frederic Rzewski (who died last summer) on a commission from Oppens and as a political gesture as well, something that was always important to him. The piece stands alongside Bach’s Goldbergs and Beethoven’s Diabellis as one of the towering works in the keyboard literature. You can also read my account of seeing Rzewski perform the work in Troy, NY, here.
WRITTEN IN 1975 for a commission from pianist Ursula Oppens, Frederic Rzewski’s hour-long “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” is one of the most fascinating, monumental works of the 20th century. It explores the sound of the piano with sometimes bizarre results, indulges in oddball time signatures and calls upon the soloist to slam the lid and whistle along.
But it’s more intricately constructed still, with the sixth variation of each set serving as a summary of the preceding five, and the component variations of the sixth set referring back to each ordinal correspondent.
This puts the work in a structural league with the ’70s output of such writers as John Barth and Gilbert Sorrentino and the seeming non-sequitur style of Donald Barthelme – and, like the work of those authors, Rzewski’s piece is dramatically effective even without a knowledge of its innards.
Two new recordings join a slowly growing catalogue that began with Oppens’s own version, now an out-of-print (and collectible) CD. But where Oppens served the music with skill and respect, pianists like Marc-André Hamelin and Rzewski himself have dug into the work with fingerbusting brio.
Ralph van Raat, whose new Naxos disc brings the work to the budget-minded, has studied with Rzewski and, in a helpful set of liner notes, notes the composer’s insistence on encouraging performers to develop unique interpretations.
That said, van Raat brings technical perfection to a performance that aligns with the Oppens version in terms of clarity. It’s more dynamic, but feels rather safe, even in the nicely-structured improvised cadenza that serves as the penultimate variation. The recorded sound is impressive, but Naxos unhelpfully puts the entire work on one CD track, the only recording I know of to do that – a hindrance if you’re seeking to study the piece.
It’s accompanied by “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” from Rzewksi’s “Four North American Ballads,” which also is served well by van Raat’s skill.
Rzewski himself performed “The People United” during a recital in Troy a few years ago, and it was fascinating to see his no-holds-barred performance. Now it’s possible to see him perform this work on DVD, as recorded at last year’s Miami International Piano Festival.
And that’s all you get on this disc: the one work, with nothing in the way of special features. But it’s enough. Camera work is discreet, audio quality is superb, and we spend a lot of time watching the keyboard – not unlike the celebrated 1981 video of Glenn Gould playing the “Goldberg Variations,” to which the Rzewski piece justly has been compared.
Rzewski, whose piano technique is impeccable, wades into the piece like one going into battle, attacking here, parrying there, taking chances. And bringing it all home with a fiery cadenza that makes the concluding theme statement feel like an exhilarating return home.
As an introduction to the work, the DVD is your best bet; if you’re broadening your knowledge of a familiar work, you’ll certainly want to add van Raat to your collection.
Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (36 Variations on ¡El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido!)
Ralph van Raat, pianist
Naxos CD
Frederic Rzewski, pianist
Video Artists International DVD
– Metroland Magazine, 25 September 2008
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