Jocelyn Swigger's debut CD features a combination of formidable technique and gentle musicality; Boogie-Woogie Etude is a devilish little hurricane guaranteed to straighten your hair.

17 MP3 Songs in this album (63:22) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Keyboard Music, CLASSICAL: Programmatic music

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Details:
The outstanding characteristics of this debut CD of Jocelyn Swigger lie in the extraordinary, highly charged energy she applies to all of this music. She begins with two exuberant movements from Le tombeau de Couperin by Ravel followed by the standard Mozart F Major delivered with effortless vitality. Bach's Partita No. 2 has a serene Sarabande played with the left pedal all the way through giving it a gloss and mellow polish. The last three pieces are rarely heard bon-bons; a smooth, artful presentation of Godard's Berceuse from "Jocelyn", a charmingly raucous, sparkling Bettina Polka of Smetana, and a ferociously electrifying Boogie-Woogie Etude of Morton Gould.

"You might find these pieces in your grandmother's piano bench. Ravel wrote Le tombeau de Couperin, a suite of dance movements, in homage to Baroque composer François Couperin. He also dedicated individual movements to friends who had died in World War I: the Prélude to Lieutenant Jacques Charlot and the Rigaudon (a court dance with hopping) to Pierre and Pascal Gaudin. Mozartâs favorite genre was opera, and the Sonata in F major is one of his most operatic, with a beautiful singing first theme in the first movement and an improvisatory aria for the second movement. The last movement is mostly fiery flourishes, ending with a shrug. The Op. 64 Waltzes by Chopin are a staple of the student piano repertoire, and teaching them made me want to play them again. The Nocturne is Chopin at his most lush and longing. Partita #2 by Bach pairs some of his darkest and most romantic keyboard music with contrapuntal dances and fugues that are terrific fun to play. The Berceuse from Godardâs opera Jocelyn used to be in all the anthologies. Family legend has it that when I was born, my mother called my grandfather and said âItâs a girl and weâve named her Jocelyn,â to which he replied âYou canât name her Jocelyn! It has five flats!â I was delighted to discover the Bettina Polka by Smetana in a music shop in Prague, because my beloved sister is named Bettina. The Boogie-Woogie Etude by Gould is a virtuosic stride romp." âJocelyn Swigger

Track List:
Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
1. Prelude
2. Rigaudon
W.A. Mozart: Sonata in F major, K. 332
3. I. Allegro
4. II. Adagio
5. III. Allegro assai
Frederic Chopin:
6. Waltz in Db major Op. 64, No. 1
7. Waltz in c# minor Op. 64, No. 2
8. Nocturne in Db major Op. 27 No. 2
J.S. Bach: Partita in c minor BWV 826
9. Sinfonia
10. Allemande
11. Courante
12. Sarabande
13. Rondeau
14. Capriccio
15. Benjamin Godard: Berceuse from âJocelynâ
16. Bedrich Smetana: Bettina Polka
17. Morton Gould: Boogie-Woogie Etude

Biography--
Jocelyn Anne Kovaleski Swigger, pianist, enjoys an active career as a soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician in the United States, Europe, and South America. A dedicated teacher, she is coordinator of Keyboard Studies of the Sunderman Conservatory of Gettysburg College, where she is also a founding member of the Sunderman Trio. She has performed as concerto soloist in the United States and South America, and she frequently appears as performer and coach at the Ameropa International Chamber Music Festival in Prague, the Czech Republic, and Madrid, Spain. A passionate advocate of new music, she has often collaborated with composers, including Aaron Grad, Forest Pierce, Dennis DeSantis, Payton MacDonald, Ian Quinn, and Martin Scherzinger. As a collaborative artist and accompanist, she has played for the Manhattan School of Music, the Quartet Program, the Boys Choir of Harlem, and the Juilliard School. She holds degrees in piano and English from Oberlin and she completed masters and doctoral degrees at the Eastman School of Music. Principal teachers include Rebecca Penneys, Joseph Schwartz, and Evelyne Brancart. In 2008 she was awarded a Fulbright scholar grant to share her approach to solo and collaborative playing with teachers and students in Paraguay. In addition to performing on the piano, fortepiano, and harpsichord, Jocelyn also enjoys making music on the accordion and as an enthusiastic choir alto.