When Do We Dance? (2021)

The best thing about this release from pianist Lise de la Salle is that it exists at all. When one thinks of dance in classical piano music, it is the 19th century that comes to mind. However, de la Salle begins with the tail end of the Romantic era and resides mostly in the supposedly more severe 20th, bringing dances from six countries: the U.S., Argentina, Spain, France, Hungary/Romania, and Russia. Each, except for Spain, is represented by at least two composers, with the intention of showing the great variety of ... Read More

The best thing about this release from pianist Lise de la Salle is that it exists at all. When one thinks of dance in classical piano music, it is the 19th century that comes to mind. However, de la Salle begins with the tail end of the Romantic era and resides mostly in the supposedly more severe 20th, bringing dances from six countries: the U.S., Argentina, Spain, France, Hungary/Romania, and Russia. Each, except for Spain, is represented by at least two composers, with the intention of showing the great variety of compositional approaches applied to dance rhythms. Nobody has done an album exactly like this before, and a secondary attraction is the presence of a trio of jazz works, working perfectly well in representing a time when models of classical virtuosity played a large role in the jazz tradition. In the Ravel Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, de la Salle is pleasantly fluent, and she cleanly executes Art Tatum's breathtaking version of Tea for Two. The national traditions all are properly given... Read Less