Janice Weber - Leo Ornstein: Piano Sonatas No. 4 & No. 7 (2002)

Leo Ornstein, who died in 2002 at the approximate age of 110(!), was a notorious wild man in his early years. The inclusion of three of his early pieces, including such titles as Danse Sauvage and Suicide in an Airplane (both from 1913), show where he got his reputation. But there is much more to Ornstein's story than the mad dissonance of his early works. He was a highly accomplished pianist (his only recordings are acoustic 78s of Chopin) and an excellent teacher, and he wrote in a wide variety of styles, sometimes simultaneously. This disc begins with a breathtakingly lovely piece of impressionism from 1971, A Morning in the Woods, and includes two large-scale piano sonatas with many impressive aspects, one from 1924, the other from 1988. Pianist Janice Weber, who is also a successful novelist, seems to specialize in super-virtuosic music, and she is fully up to the challenges of Ornstein's most difficult writing. For its demonstration of the variety of Ornstein's work, its quality of performance, its realistic sound, and even its outstanding booklet, this disc deserves an enthusiastic recommendation. --Leslie Gerber