CCMusic.com

The album "Present Reflections" offers an anthology of Amy Beach's piano works, showcasing her remarkable

compositional talent and stylistic range-from expressive virtuosity to deep interpretative

intimacy. This distinctive quality is due not only to her extraordinary gift but also to several factors: the

profound cultural shifts she experienced between the late 19th and early 20th centuries-bridging late

Romanticism, the emergence of the avant-garde, and the advent of jazz-and her unmistakable emotional

expressiveness. Despite the strict, self-imposed discipline of her compositional process (she was

entirely self-taught), her style remains deeply personal and authentic in every work. Looking back in

time, beginning with her later compositions, one can observe a radical evolution in her writing.

These works are not only a significant contribution to American piano literature but also a testament

to the transformation of an era-one that slips away from the present to become almost immediately

part of the past. In this way, Present Reflections becomes a mirror of today's world, reflecting the epochal

changes of which we are all a part. Mrs. Beach's incredible talent, which enabled her to emerge

as one of the greatest composers of her time, tells the story of both women and men-transcending

the limitations imposed by society and leaving behind a musical legacy that deserves not only rediscovery

but celebration.

Katia Spluga