Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated - Ralph van RaatThis is the most exciting new CD I've heard in a long time. The main work comprises 36 variations on El pueblo unido jamás será vencido by Chilean composer Sergio Ortega. The cycle was composed by Rzewski in 1975, as a tribute to the Chilean people suffering under the military regime, after the US-backed coup in 1973. Irrespective of political connotations, the work is exhilarating, passionate, poetic, ingenious, laden with pianistic virtuosity, and spanning an enormous range of musical expression. The performance by master pianist Ralph van Raat is terrific.
Naxos 8.559360
