Noel Lester, Piano Portraits from 19th-Century America. Centaur 2250, 1995./Maria Ferrente and Lincoln Mayorga, Best Kept Secrets: A Treasury of Passionate American Song Heard in 19th Century American Salons and Concert Venues. Massachusetts: Maria Ferrante, 2007

The prolific Charles Grobe (whose catalog includes more than 1000 pieces) gives us the United States Grand Waltz (1845), which exemplifies the "brilliant but not difficult" parlor music of the antebellum era.1The four selections by Foster also fall in this category and comprise two polkas, variations on his famous "Old Folks at Home," and a schottisch. In a similar vein, John Knowles Paine's Funeral March in Memory of President Lincoln, op. 9 effectively expresses the sadness and shock surrounding the president's death, while employing musical devices associated with the dead hero (march, dotted rhythms, etc.) long familiar in European music. The liner notes, written by Lester, provide information on the composers represented on the disc, although discussion of the pianos for which this music was intended would have been instructive as well; acknowledging the physical changes of the piano through the nineteenth century would help put the music in context, particularly since the album is organized chronologically. Piano Portraits makes an excellent companion to Best Kept Secrets: A Treasury of Passionate American Song Heard in 19th Century American Salons and Concert Venues by Maria Ferrante (soprano) and Lincoln Mayorga (piano). Besides the obvious overlap of chronology and place, both CDs cover a variety of music designed for amateur and professional performers.