Frederic Rzewski has recorded his huge and far-ranging variation set based on Sergio Ortega’s protest song The People United on three previous occasions. This fourth version constitutes a visual record of a performance in Fort Lauderdale a few weeks before Rzewski’s 69th birthday. Time has preserved Rzewski’s virtuosity, power and stamina extremely well. As he acknowledges in the booklet, the performance is not note-perfect, yet its extraordinary concentration and sense of characterful contrast from variation to variation far outweigh the blemishes. In contrast to certain younger pianists who generically taper the theme and its various reiterations, Rzewskitakes his own “with determination” directive quite seriously, and plays up the march-like episodes’ resolute swagger for all they’re worth. Although he broaches the relentless motoric bravura of Vars 20, 21 and 23 more cautiously than in the past, he makes it work all the same. By contrast, episodes lending themselves to a tender, lyrical attitude such as Vars 15, 18 and 25 or Var 27’s “minimalist” cadenza seem atypically brusque, even impatient.

Still, it’s instructive to observe how Rzewski obtains such wide variety of articulations and dynamic extremes with the utmost in physical economy. Perhaps this is due in part to his eyes being focused on the music, except, of course, during the brief improvised cadenza just before the final theme. The visual direction is of the textbook variety: easy on the eye but not especially imaginative. This video is a unique and valuable document no Rzewski fan or piano maven should miss.

More and more younger pianists appear to be taking up this monumental gauntlet. Marc-André Hamelin’s traversal (Hyperion, 7/99) helped bring The People United into the limelight and here we have a budget-price contender from Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat, whose seasoned new-music credentials, virtuoso technique and natural affinity for Rzewski’s multi-faceted keyboard-writing are evident in nearly every section.

Van Raat’s ability to divine each variation’s specific character (as opposed to weaving them together in long lines) by way of tempo, his pinpointed differentiation with regard to legato and staccato articulation, and his keen ear for harmonic tension and release bear much similarity to Rzewski’s pianism. A good example of this can be found in Vars 13 and 15, where the theme’s elaborate, bluesy embellishments resonate in a more idiomatic, plain-spoken manner than Hamelin’s almost Chopin-like expressive devices. Likewise, the composer’s march rhythms transpire more defiantly (Var 26, for instance), although for panache, proficiency, control and speed, Hamelin’s superhuman dispatch of the central Vars 19‑25 is in a class by itself. Unfortunately the entire piece occupies a single 62-plus-minute track, making it difficult to access individual movements with ease.

Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, the last of Rzewski’s Four North American Ballads, fills out this release and van Raat’s steady, incisive and powerfully projected reading stands with the best. The sound is as superb as van Raat’s well written and perceptive booklet-notes. Highly recommended.