Volume 23 Issue 5 - February 2018

Keyed In
ALEX BARAN
Marc-André Hamelin’s new CD partners
him with the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra for a world premiere recording
of the Claude Baker Piano Concerto “From
Noon to Starry Night” (Naxos 8.559804).
Based on a poem by Walt Whitman,
Baker’s work is highly detailed with many
linkages to the structure of Whitman’s
poem. Baker several times quotes wellknown
musical material to emphasize the
programmatic content of both his music and Whitman’s poem.
The five-movement concerto is complex and presents considerable
technical and interpretive challenges for the pianist. Hamelin’s
performance integrates beautifully into this demanding ensemble
requirement. He is particularly potent where he dominates the
orchestra in pianissimo passages. For all its beauty, the work is one of
very high tension. Baker is a brilliant composer and has the perfect
pianist to premiere this remarkable work.
The harpsichord has, of all period instruments,
made the most successful transition
to contemporary music. This is
largely due to the extraordinary writing of
American composer Vincent Persichetti.
Christopher D. Lewis demonstrates why
Persichetti’s music is so powerful, in his new
release Persichetti Harpsichord Sonatas
(Naxos 8.559843).
Five sonatas and the Serenade No.15
Op.161 sample the early period, mid-career and final year of the
composer’s life (1915-1987). The growth and development of his
language for this instrument is subtle. Always leaning toward melody
and strong rhythmic elements, Persichetti became, if anything, more
focused and incisive in his expression. The Serenade in particular,
offers a splendid example of how Lewis grasps the composer’s idiom
and conveys it convincingly. He’s clearly having a great deal of fun
playing this music and relishes the extent of the technical challenge as
well as the lovely melodic moments that mark all of Persichetti’s harpsichord
works.
Well-programmed and wonderfully played, the disc delivers far
more than a first glance might suggest. It reincarnates the harpsichord
as a credible modern keyboard instrument.
Ralph van Raat is a pianist with a very catholic
taste in music. His affection for rock,
jazz, atonal serial music, and everything
between them is accurately reflected in his
decision to record Erik Lotichius: Anaitalrax
– 25 virtuosic studies (Solaire SOL 1005
2-CD). Lotichius (1929-2015) was born in
the Netherlands and composed in a style
that was a deep fusion of seemingly countless influences. Traditional
European classical voices and numerous American ones appear
consistently throughout his very tonal and rhythmically driven music.
Jazz, ragtime, blues, Broadway, Bach, Bartók, Debussy and Ravel are
easy to identify, but it’s the amalgams that emerge as the unique voice
of this little-known composer.
Van Raat performs these 25 studies as if they were meditations,
sustaining the composer’s mantra-like phrases and hypnotic rhythms
to great effect. Lotichius is a master at capturing more than just your
ear, he wants your emotional attention and knows how to get it.
This 2CD set includes an extensive and enlightening biography of the
composer as well as some engaging thoughts from both the performer
and the recording’s producer.
Barbara Karaskiewicz has compiled a
fascinating program in her recording Karol
Szymanowski Piano Music (Divine Art DDA
25151). It forms a survey of the composer’s
work covering nearly 40 years, beginning
with Nine Preludes Op.1, written in
1900. The presence of Chopin is immediately
detectable along with vocabulary
reminiscent of some Brahms Intermezzi.
There is a familiar fluidity and nostalgic ethos that pervades the
music. Karaskiewicz plays these beautifully, bringing forward the
composer’s unique voice. The Four Etudes Op.4 reveal the influence
of early modernism, with some careful tonal experimentation
that Karaskiewicz integrates quite naturally into the character of
the pieces.
Szymanowski’s output is generally considered to fall into two
periods, of which the second is strongly influenced by Eastern motifs
and subject matter. The exotic elements of Scheherazade from
Masques Op.34 take advantage of the angular melodies and dissonant
harmonies of the period’s emerging contemporary music.
Karaskiewicz’s programming arch covers a considerable distance
and concludes with Two Mazurkas Op.62 that reveal the fading but
ever-present influence of Chopin in Szymanowski’s music.
The Cloak with the Stars – Music for organ
by Carson Cooman Vol.6 (Divine Art
dda 25159) is a selection of works by this
American composer and organist. Erik
Simmons recorded several of the earlier
volumes in this series and now enjoys an
established reputation for a level of expertise
with Cooman’s repertoire. Simmons
performs using the Hauptwerk system
digital sampling technology, and data from the organ of the Abbey of
Saint-Etienne, Caen, France. The instrument was built by Cavaille-
Coll in 1882-85 and despite its age, is the newest of numerous organs
that have been in the Abbey since its founding by William the
Conqueror in 1066.
One of Cooman’s strengths as a composer is his ability to use
programmatic material. He remains free enough to create highly
atmospheric works that deliver more of a feel about the subject matter
than a linear storyline. Three St. Francis Legends is an excellent
example. The disc’s finest track, however, is Diptych for a New Life, a
tribute to the life-giving imagery of the sun. Cooman’s writing is
colourful and highly effective.
As an organist, Carson Cooman continues
to add new recordings to his growing catalogue
of “virtual” pipe organ performances.
Andreas Willscher Organ Symphonies 19 &
20 (Divine Art dda 25162) is the latest and
once again uses the increasingly ubiquitous
Hauptwerk digital sampling system.
The instrument captured on this recording is
the 1868 Edmund Schulze in the Church of
St. Bartholomew, Armley, Leeds, England. It’s a substantial instrument
of 55 stops over five divisions. Judging from the acoustic space heard
in the recording, the church is large and suits the instrument perfectly.
A curious piece of history recounts how the organ was originally
placed in a building too small for its size and volume, lasting only a
decade there before being sold and installed in its present location.
Cooman’s program for this disc focuses on the work of German
composer and organist Andreas Willscher (b.1955). His compositional
language for the instrument is deeply traditional yet freely
68 | February 2018 thewholenote.com