Sunday, 12 February 2023

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL / YOKO HIROTA, Piano on Navona Records / Review



SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

MINIATURE PIANO PIECES

Yoko Hirota, Piano

Navona Records NV 6294

 

I will not be the first or last to declaim that atonal music is best heard in small doses. This is also the credo of Japanese-Canadian pianist Yoko Hirota’s Small Is Beautiful, a new edition of an album originally released on Phoenix Records in 2009. The sixteen works here (in 35 tracks) cover some twelve composers, seven of whom are Canadians. Hirota has developed a solid reputation as an authority on Schoenberg and contemporary Canadian piano music, thus continuing the sterling work of her compatriot, one Glenn Gould.

 

The album opens with Arnold Schoenberg’s Six Little Pieces Op.19 (1911), which together with his Three Piano Pieces Op.11 (not included here) represent the first atonal works for piano. These are aphoristic miniatures, variegated in spirit and inspiration, piqueing the ear for brief moments without overstaying their welcome. The harmonies in the sixth piece, written in memory of Mahler who died earlier in the year, are otherworldly. The Eight Piano Pieces Op.110 (1946) by Ernst Krenek, who was briefly married to Mahler’s surviving daughter Anna, are also rather accessible.

 

Yoko Hirota follows in the hallowed tradition
of the great Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.


Three further giants of 20th century music follow. Gyorgy Ligeti’s Invention (1948) is Bach updated to modern times. Luciano Berio’s Erdenklavier (1969), Brin and Leaf (both 1990) are separate pieces from his Six Encores, which span 35 years of his creative output. These make an excellent and painless introduction to the great Italian. Elliott Carter’s 90+ (1994, written for Goffredo Petrassi’s 90th birthday) is built upon 90 accented notes of different duration, restlessness being a recurring feature.

 

The second part is devoted to the Canadians, with works dating from 1951 to 2007, and the contrast is immediately palpable. The transition from Elliott Carter’s Retrouvailles (2000, written for Pierre Boulez’s 75th birthday) to John Beckwith’s The Music Room (1951) is sharply delineated. Aggressive atonality gives way to some semblance of melody, with little or no obligation to completely avoid tonal centres. The longest work is Bruce Mather’s Fantasy (1964) at nearly 7 minutes, its atonality sounding more impressionistic than serialist, as is Brian Cherney’s Elegy for a Misty Afternoon (1976).

 

John Weinzweig’s Canon Stride (1986) is rhythmic and entertaining in the manner of the boogie woogie. Aris Carastathis’ Traces (1991) also explore rhythm patterns, the second of which hints at a fugato. Gary Kulesha’s Two Pieces (1994) are slightly more extended essays where atonality no longer sounds jarring, instead being almost easy to the ears. Robert Lemay’s 6 Ushebtis (2003) which return to the same spirit of Schoenberg’s miniatures which opened the disc. A neat case of symmetry, before closing with Lemay’s Tanz vor Angst... Hommage a Paul Klee (2006), a more than fitting bookend.

 

Like Beethoven’s Bagatelles or Schubert’s Moments Musicaux, these diminutive mini-masterpieces are well-crafted diversions which are an added dimension to the composers’ art. Hirota plays these with love and conviction, which make for compelling listening. 


To sample / purchase this recording:

Small is Beautiful – Navona Records

No comments: