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Product Description Jeffrey Biegel's recording of a Steinway Christmas Album was one of the top selling classical titles of 2011 the Steinway & Sons label was launched with Biegel's critically acclaimed release, Bach on a Steinway, in 2010. a Grand Romance reintroduces piano repertoire from the era of "Downton Abbey". a Grand Romance will be serviced to 300+ radio, print and internet media outlets. Review ...Jeffrey Biegel's excellent programming instincts and canny sense of pacing manages to transform what the late Arthur Loesser called 'cream of corn' into real sustenance. More importantly, he takes the texts seriously without losing sight of their entertainment value....keyboard lovers surely will glean from Biegel's impressively finished, communicative, and joyful pianism, not to mention the excellent annotations and sonics. --ClassicsToday.com, Jed DistlerOn his new CD release, A Grand Romance, American pianist Jeffrey Biegel performs a program of keyboard showpieces celebrating the intimate relationship between pianist and the public. The recording features musical miniatures from the 1830 s through the 20th century from such pianist/composers as Anton Rubinstein, Ignaz Paderewski, Moritz Moszkowski, and Adolf Schulz-Evler among others. Selections range from short and sweet piano etudes to novelty items and technical dazzlers. --KDFC RadioThe title A Grand Romance and the statement in the notes that '[t]his recording celebrates the intimacy of the relationship between pianist and public' during the Romantic era both make this recording sound more general than it actually is. What you have here is a collection of pieces generally played as encores. There are a few difficult technical details, but for the most part the mood is lyrical and the mode of expression concise. A program of 16 of these might seem excessive, but the program is chosen intelligently by American pianist Jeffrey Biegel, and the listener's interest doesn't flag. All the music, except for the Causerie of César Cui, was written by pianist/composers, a genre of musician that has almost disappeared, and indeed many of these composers Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz, Paul de Schlözer, Giovanni Sgambati, and others have been pretty much forgotten. Some of the works are delightfully pictorial, such as Moritz Moszkowski's The Girl Juggler (or, as the track list inelegantly has it, The Juggleress); others are dances or etudes or little droplets of sheer sentiment. The most virtuosic work is the set of Arabesques on 'The Blue Danube' by Andolf Schulz-Evler, and Biegel is not seriously challenged by it, although you could wish for more schmaltz in places here. Recommended, especially for piano recitalists themselves. --Allmusic.com, James Manheim
This collection of lesser known piano music of the late "Golden Era of the Piano" is recommended for every collector to have. A comprehensive description of this album has already been done by another reviewer. I only want to say that Jeffrey Biegel plays with a flawless technique and much verve, sometimes a little too fast for my taste, but since most of the pieces on this album were specifically written to show off the brilliance of a performer this is excusable.Jeffrey Biegel came to my attention when I listened to his performances of Debussy's piano music on the "Little Big Debussy Box" (also available on Amazon), and looking for more recordings of him I found this one. Hopefully we will get more albums of recordings from Jeffrey Biegel in the future.
