Album

Along the Western Shore, Althea Waites' 2003 release on Cambria, presents works by four American composers who, at one time or another, lived or worked in California; this is as far as any connections go. Beyond that vague unifying theme, the piano pieces on this program tend to be derivative, academic, or mildly experimental, and mismatched in mood. The late-Romantic, Rachmaninov-styled Along the Western Shore by Elinor Remick Warren and the mysterious, Scriabin-esque vignettes of Seven Traceries by William Grant Still are perhaps the most appealing for their gentle wafting and picturesque surges of chromatic harmonies. However, the Five Pieces for piano by Richard Saylor amount to rather uninteresting studies of intervals and modern keyboard techniques and seem dryly didactic. The Etcetera Variations by Lloyd Rodgers—based on Bach's canons on the famous theme from the Goldberg Variations—is a cumbersome collage for two pianos, which does little to enhance the originals except create unexpected dissonances, dislocated phrases, and a general sense of disorientation. Waites' playing is usually sensitive and atmospheric, particularly in Still's miniatures, and she is grandly expressive in Warren's tone poems. But she and duet partner Mark Uranker seem uncomfortably stiff in the Etcetera Variations, and the Saylor performance is competent, but not especially compelling. Cambria's sound quality is fine.

© Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

CD 1
Elinor Remick Warren Composer Along the Western Shore for orchestra Work Recorded 1997 12:14 Althea Waites Piano
1	Dark Hills	4:58			$0.99
2	Poem	4:02			$0.99
3	Sea Rhapsody	3:14			$0.99
William Grant Still Composer 7 Traceries, for piano Work Recorded 1997 19:41 Althea Waites Piano
4	1.Cloud Cradles	2:44			$0.99
5	2.Mystic Pool	4:03			$0.99
6	3.Muted Laughter	1:05			$0.99
7	4.Out of the Silence	4:31			$0.99
8	5.Woven Silver	1:14			$0.99
9	6.Wailing Dawn	4:45			$0.99
10	7.Bit of Wit	1:19			$0.99
Richard Saylor Composer Pieces (5) for Piano Work Recorded 1997 10:25 Althea Waites Piano
11	From a Waltz	1:53			$0.99
12	Clusters	1:56			$0.99
13	Osinato	2:05			$0.99
14	Nostalgia	2:20			$0.99
15	Rondo	2:11			$0.99
Lloyd Rodgers Composer Etcetera Variations for Two Pianos, (after J.S. Bach's 14 Canons to the Goldberg Variations, BWV1087) Work Recorded 2002 Althea Waites Piano, Mark Uranker Piano
16	Etcetera Variations for Two Pianos, (after J.S. Bach's 14 Canons to the Goldberg Variations, BWV1087)	21:35			$3.49