Beach: Under the Stars

This is the second, and the lesser, volume of pianist Joanne Polk's Amy Beach series. It includes a couple of fairly substantial pieces, the Prelude and Fugue and the Ballade, along with a collection of the relatively trivial music that made up most of the piano works of Beach and her contemporaries. Her chamber music includes some hefty pieces that show her at her best, but most of this music shows her fitting in with her era. It's not to be despised, but this isn't the most significant music in the world. It is, however, extremely well played and recorded. --Leslie Gerber