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Special offer. American Dream

Ludmila Berlinskaya, Arthur Ancelle (piano)

Orchestre Victor Hugo, Jean-François Verdier, Laurent Comte

American Dream
From her lively, accessible style, it's not hard to see why Suesse was nicknamed a 'Gershwin Girl', while the Moscow-born Babin's concerto reminds one instantly of Prokofiev.

Special offer. American Dream

Ludmila Berlinskaya, Arthur Ancelle (piano)

Orchestre Victor Hugo, Jean-François Verdier, Laurent Comte

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This release includes a digital booklet

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From her lively, accessible style, it's not hard to see why Suesse was nicknamed a 'Gershwin Girl', while the Moscow-born Babin's concerto reminds one instantly of Prokofiev.

About

The 'American dream' is the thread that connects these three works. Amy Beach was born in New Hampshire in 1867 and composed more than three hundred works, including a monumental suite for two pianos inspired by the Romantic tradition and based on ancient Irish melodies. Nadine Dana Suesse — nicknamed the "Gershwin Girl" — was born in Kansas City in 1909. She played her own compositions on the radio from the age of thirteen and composed hit songs, notably for Bing Crosby. She refused the attractions of Hollywood and studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her works disappeared from the repertory after her death, although the Berlinskaya Ancelle duo are keen to revive her music with this 1943 concerto, described as "romantic, but mixed with modern harmonies and chords straight from jazz". Victor Babin was born in Moscow in 1908 and emigrated to the United States with his wife Viktoria Vronskaya in 1937. Their piano duo was very successful there: they gave the first performance of Babin’s virtuosic Second Concerto under the direction of George SzelI in Cleveland in 1957.

Contents and tracklist

I. Allegro
Track length7:48
II. Adagio
Track length6:41
III. Scherzo
Track length2:30
IV. Finale. Lento e con espressione - Allegro moderato
Track length3:13
I. Prelude. Lento, quasi una fantasia
Track length5:39
II. Old-time Peasant-Dance. Allegro con spirito
Track length3:48
III. The Ancient Cabin. Lento come prima
Track length6:30
IV. Finale. Molto vivace (Con fuga)
Track length3:52
I. Moderato
Track length6:18
II. Molto vivo e ben ritmico
Track length7:28
III. Molto sostenuto, intimo e calmo
Track length3:44
IV. Finale alla fuga. Allegro con spirito
Track length7:24

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

Christmas 2025

From her lively, accessible style, it's not hard to see why Suesse was nicknamed a 'Gershwin Girl', while the Moscow-born Babin's concerto reminds one instantly of Prokofiev.

The Babin and Suesse concertos have been recorded before, but I have only been able to track down the Beach suite in its version for two pianos sans orchestre. None of the three deserves its present obscurity and the advocacy of Berlinskaya and Ancelle makes the very best case for them and, by some distance, outclasses their previous iterations.

Wife and husband two-piano duo Ludmilla Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle have form when it comes to exhuming rare repertoire, and this new anthology doesn’t disappoint.
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