There is no pianist better equipped to carry the Billy Mayerl revival forward than Eric Parkin—unless it is Mayerl himself, whose 78s are not as available in transfers as they should be. I have been critical of other pianists whose recordings have come out since Vol. 2 of Parkin's collection from Chandos (11/90). His latest volume is further justification. He employs the strict rhythm arising from dance music which the composer often specifies, he understands the piano style—lyrical but fairly dry, and he plays with real musicianship without apology for music which makes friends through being easy on the ear.
I wrote the CD notes for Parkin's last two volumes but I didn't hear the performances until after release. My only disappointment is that some of Mayerl's sets of pieces have been broken up between the volumes—this is apparently because Chandos did not initially expect to be producing three CDs. A set of five pieces such as The Big Top shows how effectively Mayerl planned his groups. Parkin's delivery is as polished as a fine Mozart player: every phrase feels just right and the glissandos in the first piece are deliciously executed. He is just as winning in the two suites called In my Garden, which were intended for amateurs to play. ''Meadowsweet'' (track 6) is a perfect example of the genre. This is the domestic music of the inter-war period, called ''The Long Weekend'' by Robert Graves, and it's as English as the poetry of Betjeman. Parkin, with his rare understanding of Bax, Bridge and Ireland, can place pieces like Filigree and Siberian lament (in spite of its title!) into their English tradition. But, as we know from Vols. 1 and 2, he can go further in a typical 1920s number like Honky-tonk, which is a superb novelty rag. (Parkin plays the introductory bars with five beats to each bar instead of four, copying Mayerl himself—that's authenticity!)
Like piano rags, from which they get their form some of these pieces are a bit repetitive: so Parkin makes cuts in Clockwork, Romanesque, and Ladybird Lullaby as Mayerl himself sometimes did for his own recordings. But overall these are stylish and ideally satisfying interpretations: Mayerl enthusiasts will need all three volumes and will be glad to know that Parkin is now recording three CDs of Mayerl's transcriptions.'