This lengthy program brings together a dizzying number of appealing works to celebrate America’s 250th As Steve Smith writes in his program notes, “What emerges in this collection of disparate, yet interconnected lives and works is a patchwork quilt of individual voices, perspectives, and aspirations… the sky, stone, sinew, steel, and sentiment that make up this nation.” Carolyn Enger’s pianism (praised before by ARG) is subtle and sensitive. She has a delicate touch and strong musicality—no banging aloud.  

Included are pieces by Bernstein, Copland, Corigliano, Rorem, Still, Price, and others. The album is strikingly inclusive, not only different styles but genders and ethnicities.  William Grant Still’s Seven Traceries unveil an elegant American impressionism. Margaret Ruthven Lang’s ‘Twilight’ is a bewitching piece of tone painting by the first woman to have a work performed by a major American orchestra (the BSO, in 1893). It has a gorgeous main tune and a shimmering middle section; she sounds here like an American Grieg. Ned Rorem’s memorial to Paul Bowles is wistful and poetic (Engers has performed several Rorem pieces, and he has called her playing “wonderful.”)

This program tilts toward wistfulness and tunefulness, but there are exceptions. ‘The VastLand’ from Under the Blue Dome by San Francisco-based J.J. Hollingsworth, a composer of Native American descent, conjures, in her words, the “expanse” and “changing light” of the prairie. It has a compelling austerity and clangorous authority, a powerful piece of modernism.   

There is lots of Bernstein here, both as a composer and reference. His Thirteen Anniversaries celebrates family members, friends, and colleagues in ways that are touching, intimate, and full of good humor. His songful ‘Sondheim’ sounds like Bernstein, not Sondheim, but who cares? His tributes to his daughter, wife, and Ellen Goetz are touching. One of the colleagues is composer Craig Urquhart, a former assistant, represented here by ‘The Awakening,’ Urquhart’s birthday offering to Bernstein, and ‘Adieu,’ both of which are serene and captivating; he knows how to write a shapely melody. Copland’s three excerpts from Our Town, dedicated to Bernstein, sound terrific on the piano thanks to Engers’ elegant playing. It is instantly recognizable as Copland, tender and whimsical. John Corigliano’s ‘An Anniversary for Lenny’ is an affectionate remembrance for a 2016 Bernstein centennial celebration.

This is a gratifying collection, full of variety and underperformed pieces, exquisitely played. Here is a subtle rather than bombastic way to celebrate America’s 250th