Frederic Rzewski: No Place to Go but Around

Album review

In tribute to her longtime mentor and friend Frederic Rzewski, the intrepid, iconoclastic and politically active pianist-composer who passed away in 2021, pianist Lisa Moore presents five poignant performances of his most lyrical work. Taking its title from the vibrant, lush and melody-rich No Place to Go But Around (composed in 1974), the recording is of a piece with Moore's wide-ranging 2016 Cantaloupe release "The Stone People" (the digital version of which featured a bonus track of Rzewski's Piano Piece No. 4, re-recorded in a new performance for this collection), and finds her once again embracing an adventurist streak as she digs deep into the nuances of Rzewski’s timeless music.

“He was blunt, matter-of-fact, frustrating, and brilliant,” Moore recalls in her revealing liner notes for the album. “Yet deep down, he was a real mensch who cared deeply for humanity. His works had strong underlying, or overlying, messages of social justice. He was a bohemian family man, giving most of his meager income to his children and grandchildren. Personally, when I once thought of quitting piano, he encouraged me to keep going — he said, ‘Why stop playing? Don’t waste your investment. Just do other things, too.’ I worked with him closely on De Profundis and To His Coy Mistress. We always got along.” © Cantaloupe Music