Volume 22 Issue 7 - April 2017

flues. It’s built and voiced to provide the greatest possible dynamic
range for the building it occupies.
Houlihan’s clever choice of stops is nowhere more impressive than
in his own arrangement of the Italian Concerto BWV971. It’s playful,
celebratory and sparkles with colour. Every track on this CD takes
advantage of this remarkable instrument and its gifted performer.
Beethoven’s exhaustive treatise on the variation
form that we know as the Diabelli
Variations Op.120 is the heart of Ronald
Brautigam’s latest recording Beethoven –
Diabelli Variations Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
(BIS-1943). The disc is the final
production in Brautigam’s complete set of
Beethoven’s works for solo piano, performed
on fortepiano.
This alone would suffice to set it apart for special attention. An
added feature, however, is its recording on a modern fortepiano
modelled on an instrument built by Conrad Graf in 1822. We know
that Beethoven admired Graf’s fortepianos and eventually came to
own one himself. One of Graf’s unique features was his quadruple
stringing of notes, giving added volume and power to the sound
– though it must have been a tuning nightmare. The copy used in
this recording demonstrates a wide dynamic range and an impressive
responsiveness to touch, not only for dynamic expression but in
clarity of strike, release and repeat in the very fast passages.
Brautigam concludes the disc with the Six National Airs with
Variations Op.105. This is just one of several such sets Beethoven
wrote for British publisher George Thomson. The relationship with
Thomson helped spark some interest in folk-songs which Beethoven
pursued in 15 further sets. The tunes in this one are Welsh, Irish,
Scottish and Austrian. Best known among them is The Last Rose
of Summer.
The disc is another of the outstanding recordings by Brautigam,
produced in a career-long devotion to performance on original
instruments that includes the complete keyboard works of Mozart
and Haydn.
L/R
Mid-30s Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson
is a Juilliard graduate and a busy concert
performer with a passion for contemporary
music. His acquaintance with Philip Glass
makes for fascinating reading in the liner notes
of his new recording, Philip Glass – (Deutsche
Grammophon 479 6918).
The recording is largely devoted to 11 of the
20 Études that Glass wrote between 1999 and 2012. Olafsson plays
them from a personal place of detachment but with all the subtlety
and nuance they require. His performance of the final Étude No.20 is
striking for its otherworldly feel. He relates the story of asking Glass
how this one étude came to be so different and how the composer
answered that he didn’t know, he just somehow found himself
out in space.
The disc also includes the now well-known Opening from
Glassworks as its first track. The same piece appears again as the final
track, but reworked for piano and string quartet. It’s a very satisfying
comparison. The reworked version comes across with richer
sonority, and with the piano taking on a much lesser role than might
be expected.
Olafsson has produced a very fine performance in a field growing
ever more populous. The calibre of his playing assures he will always
stand out.
Bruce Levingston is a widely recognized
interpreter of Philip Glass’ music. His new
2CD set Dreaming Awake – Philip Glass –
Bruce Levingston (Sono Luminus DSL-92205)
contains a superbly planned program.
Covering a period from 1966 to 2005 the music
presents, among others things, an overview of
how Glass’ music has evolved.
The earliest work is Wichita Vortex Sutra
played by Levingston and narrated by actor Ethan Hawke. Written by
poet Allen Ginsberg during the years of the Vietnam War protests, it
and the music speak jointly to the injustice of the war and a universal
call for peace. It’s a work that reveals more of itself on repeated
listening.
Much of the two discs is devoted to ten of Glass’ 20 Études. Written
primarily for his personal keyboard practice, they each contain a
handful of specific technical challenges. It’s not surprising though that
Levingston immediately seizes upon the composer’s creative germ
in each of them, and sets them on the creative plane Glass must have
intended from the outset.
Levingston gives a rich and colourful performance of the enigmatic,
Buddhist-inspired Dreaming Awake. It’s an active work of frequent
movement between places of intense feeling and moments of great
repose. His playing reveals a deep understanding of the music and
its composer.
Compositions for film make up a large part of Glass’ oeuvre. While
Metamorphosis No.2 is a frequently recorded work, it is also quoted
in the soundtrack of The Thin Blue Line. The Illusionist Suite offers
another example of his remarkable writing for the screen.
Levingston is a master in this genre, with complete interpretive
access to Glass’ work, whether originating in poetic protest or the
cinema, whether written for study or meditation.
L/R
Like the review? Listen to some tracks from all the recordings in the ads
below at The WholeNote.com/Listening
L/R
Bach’n’Jazz
For Bach ‘n’ Jazz, their first album
on ATMA Classique, the ensemble
Flûte Alors! performs an eclectic
mix of jazz standards and Bach’s
music.
One Way Up – Dave Young
2017 Juno Nominee: Jazz Album of
the Year / Best Group Performance
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