http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04361/430960.stm

Recordings: 12/26/04
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ERIC MOE: "The Waltz Project Revisited." Albany.
Move over, Chopin, new waltzes coming through.
University of Pittsburgh composer Eric Moe, also an accomplished pianist, has revived one of the more fascinating musical undertakings of the last 25 years, the Waltz Project of the 1970s. It brought together composers to see if the genre still had relevance.

Hardly anyone may dance the waltz anymore, but artistic piano "portraits" of waltzes (as Stravinsky once described Chopin's) still have a place, judging from how many here are enjoyable and substantive. Moe took 11 from the old collection and asked for 11 more.

The names are from every walk, but Moe admirably plays them in their style: Charles Wuorinen, Milton Babbitt, Lou Harrison, Wayne Peterson, Philip Glass, Lee Hyla, Joan Tower, Hayes Biggs and more. Moe's propulsive "Pulaski Skyway Waltz" and fellow Pitt composers Mathew Rosenblum's inventive "Shadow Waltz" and Roger Zahab's programmatic "Levitation of pianos during a waltz" are worthy additions to the disc.
The bottom line, however, is that despite the different approaches, no composer betrays the genre's accessibility. No academic exercises here, just one-two-three, one-two-three ...
-- Andrew Druckenbrod