Recent Releases, No. 18 (CD Reviews)

By Karl W. Nehring

Sebastian Knauer: The Mozart/Nyman Concert. Includes Mozart: Sonata C Major K 545: I. Allegro. Michael Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K1; Mozart: Sonata C Major K 330: II. Andante cantabile; Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K2; Mozart: Sonata F Major K 332: III. Allegro assai; Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K3; Mozart: Sonata A Minor K 310: I. Allegro maestoso; Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K4; Mozart: Fantasy C Minor K 475; Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K5; Mozart: Sonata D Major K 311: III. Rondeau-Allegro; Nyman: 6 Piano Pieces for Sebastian Knauer: K6; Mozart: 12 Variations C Major on ?Ah, vous dirai-je Maman" K 265. Sebastian Knauer, piano. Modern Recordings 538682452.

The British composer Michael Nyman (b. 1944) is probably most widely known for his soundtrack to the award-winning film The Piano, although he has composed music in many other genres, most notably opera. He composes in a minimalist style, so when I came across this CD at my local public library, despite never having heard of the performer, I could not help but be intrigued. Mozart and Nyman? Hmmmm? As soon as I got in my car, I slid the disc into the CD player. By the time I got home, I was won over to the idea that mixing Mozart and Nyman was not a dubious idea, but an inspired one. Wondering whether the liner notes might offer any insights into how the program was chosen, I was delighted to discover a detailed explanation from the German pianist Sebastian Knauer (b. 1971). "For my project, 'The Mozart Nyman Concert,' I chose two tremendous and highly esteemed composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Michael Nyman. It has long been my dream to connect the two composers in a special project. In 2021, for the occasion of my fiftieth birthday, I seek to fulfill this wish and have asked Michael Nyman, who is just as much an admirer of Mozart as I am, to compose six piano pieces directly related to Mozart's piano sonatas. The classical and traditional form of the piano recital, in which we are accustomed to hearing entire works of one or more composers, continues to develop, and so I have conceived of a new and modern piano recital for myself. I have put together two new, three-movement sonatas from the first, second and third movements of six different Mozart sonatas and the c Minor Fantasy, each connected by one of Michael Nyman's piano pieces. At the end, serving as an encore, are Mozart's Twelve Variations, KV 265. The soundscapes of the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries are closely interwoven, the transitions between Mozart and Nyman are fluid, and a listening experience is created which makes the connection between antiquity and modernity a thrilling and innovative concert program for me." With the opening familiar notes of Mozart's C Major Sonata, the program starts with a cheerful exuberance, and even as the mood shifts from time to time as the music varies, the overall positive feeling of musical energy and enthusiasm prevails, whether it be expressed in the lyricism of Mozart or the rhythmic pulse of Nyman, in whose music you really can come to understand his expressed esteem for the music of Mozart. The album moves along with a feeling of flow and purpose that transcends the differences in musical styles between the two composers. The liner notes include a conversation between Knauer and Nyman as well as brief biographies of both musicians. If you enjoy solo piano music, you will most likely really enjoy this album, which offers more than 79 minutes of centuries-spanning musical joy.

Richter: Exiles. Includes Flowers of Herself (from Woolf Works); On the Nature of Daylight (from The Blue Notebooks); The Haunted Ocean (from Waltz with Bashir); Infra 5 (from Infra); Sunlight (from Songs from Before); Exiles. Deutsche Grammophon 486 0445.

We have previously reviewed several recordings by Max Richter (b. 1966) in Classical Candor. This new release offers a blend of the old and the new in terms of compositions, but with a twist, as the older compositions all done in arrangements for full orchestra, whereas most of Richters previous releases featured much smaller ensembles. For example, Richter explains that the second track, On the Nature of Daylight, was originally five strings and now it's over 65 strings so it has a different texture, a different energy, a different kind of sonic fingerprint. The orchestral version is a different emotional register, it's a bigger canvas. In the quintet you really feel that someone is speaking quietly just to you, but with the orchestra it's a broader dialogue. According to the liner notes, Infra 5, also originally scored for five strings, is a mantra-like meditation on the July 2005 terrorist bombings in London, while Sunlight, originally a string quartet movement, is one of Richte's favorite works, from his 2006 album Songs from Before (one of David Bowie's favourite albums), and its yearning quality sings out in the new orchestral version. The composition that opens the album, Flowers of Herself, establishes a mood ripe with anticipation. It is an orchestration of music that Richter composed to evoke the atmosphere at the start of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, the hustle and bustle of city sidewalks. Even the briefest (2:19) composition on the album, The Haunted Ocean, a hypnotic work from the soundtrack score to Waltz with Bashir (2008), which deals with writer and director Ari Folman's traumatic recollections of his military service during the 1982 Lebanon War, makes a distinct impression despite its brevity. The new composition on this release is the title piece, Exiles, which Richter was inspired to write in response to the refugee crisis ensuing from the brutal government actions in Syria that led to many thousands of refugees fleeing for their lives under desperate circumstances. Throughout its 33 minutes, the music is a round upon a simple, compelling melody that is repeated in various guises. It's a very simple idea, explains Richter, but I wanted to put this notion of exile, of walking, of movement, into the heart of the music in a technical sense as well as metaphorical. The music grows in intensity as it progresses, then ends in an enigmatic fade. As Richter notes, Exiles ends on a question: What if? That question is far from settled. The Baltic Sea Philharmonic was founded in 2008 as the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic with Kristjan Jarvi (b. 1972, son of Neeme and younger brother of Paavo) as their conductor. They play this music with conviction, and their sound has been well captured by the engineers.

Sebastian Fagerlund: Nomade; Water Atlas. Nicolas Altstaedt, cello; Hannu Lintu, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. BIS-2455 SACD.

We previously reviewed an earlier release by the Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund (b.1972), which, as it turns out, contains two works that are linked to one of the works on this new release, as explained in the liner notes: "When Sebastian Fagerlund began composing a new orchestral work in 2014, he was inspired to commence an entire trilogy, comprising Stonework (2014-15), Drifts (2016-17), and Water Atlas (2017-18). Although the works are linked by the same basic musical materials, each of them is independent and self-contained in itself. Nonetheless, Fagerlund considers it possible that they could also be presented as a unified suite. The works use a large symphony orchestra of similar proportions, differing only in the choice of percussion instruments. As well as using the same basic material, the works of the trilogy are united by the various stimuli and associations suggested by their titles. All of them are about basic elements music of stone, wind (or currents) and water in Water Atlas the eternal cycle of water is combined with the human desire and need to analyze the environment." Well, I'm not sure about the veracity of that last sentence, but I can say that Water Atlas is a powerful composition that makes a strong impression both musically and sonically. Like water, it seems to flow effortlessly and with great power, all sections of the orchestra contributing, swirling and cascading, pulling the listener along on a journey of imagination. It is preceded on this disc by Nomade, Fagerlund's atypically structured (six movements rather than the usual four, plus two brief interludes thrown in for good measure) cello concerto. The composer dedicated the piece to cellist Altstaedt, who brings a sense of longing, of searching, and dogged determination to his performance. For those classical music lovers who might be afraid that music written so recently might be harsh, dissonant, or otherwise lacking in aesthetic appeal, allow me to reassure you: no, the  music Fagerlund does not sound like the music of Mozart, but if you can enjoy the concertos of, say, Shostakovich, or the tone poems of, say, Sibelius, then there is a good chance you will find this music to be right in your wheelhouse. As a bonus, if your system can handle it (to borrow an old phrase from the automotive world, there is no replacement for displacement), you will be able to revel in some fine BIS recorded sound of a large orchestra.

Enigma: Spektral Quartet Performs Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Spektral Quartet (Maeve Feinberg, violin; Clara Lyon; violin; Doyle Armbrust, viola; Russell Rolen, cello). Sono Luminus DSL-92250.

Enigma is the first string quartet from Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977). It was given its premier in 2019 by the Chicago-based Spektral Quartet, who have now recorded the work. This is an utterly fascinating piece, at once evoking feelings of immensity and intimacy, tension and calm, or, to paraphrase Kant, the starry heavens above and the moral law within. The music is strange, but compelling, and it invites repeated listening, yielding new delights each time. In the words of the composer, "the music of Enigma is inspired by the notion of the in-between, juxtaposing flow and fragmentation. Pulsating stasis - the whole, an expanding and contracting fundament - is contrasted with fragmented materials - shadows of things that live as part of the whole. Harmonies emerge and evaporate or break into pieces in various ways, leaving traces of materials that project through different kinds of textures and nuances and gradually take on their own shape. Some return to the core, some remain apart. Throughout the piece, the perspective continuously moves between the two, the fundament and the fragmented shadows, but the focus is always their relationship - the in-between. As with my music generally, the inspiration behind Enigma is not something I am trying to describe through the piece - to me, the qualities of the music are first and foremost musical. When I am inspired by a particular element or quality, it is because I perceive it as musically interesting, and the qualities I tend to be inspired by are often structural, like proportion and flow, as well as relationships of balance between details within a larger structure, and how to move in perspective between the two, the details and the unity of the whole." There is plucking, there are chords, there are brief melodic lines. There is tension and there is release. The piece comprises three movements and lasts 28:28, which I suppose will be a deal breaker for some, at least in CD format. Among those thanked in in the liner note acknowledgements are Haribo gummy treats, Science, and Dr. Anthony Fauci. I second that emotion.

KWN