Piano music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutosławski

Although the extraordinary artistry of pianist Gloria Cheng has an international reach, in a purely professional sense she is strongly connected to Los Angeles; Cheng teaches at UCLA and frequently appears as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This body is famously directed by a self-professed composer who also works as conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who led, in Los Angeles, some of the last concerts devoted to Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski while he lived. The first book in English devoted to Lutoslawski was written by composer Steven Stucky who, although based at Cornell University, is a close friend of Salonen's. Pull together these slight degrees of separation and you have Telarc's remarkable Gloria Cheng: Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski. None of the composers on the program is particularly noted for production of keyboard music, and both Salonen and Stucky are professed non-players. Lutoslawski, however, played the piano well, and in his youth his Piano Sonata (1934) was his signature piece. Over time, though, Lutoslawski's enthusiasm about it cooled owing to a perceived snub from composer Karol Szymanowski and other factors. Lutoslawski ultimately forbade performances of this work, and it didn't appear in published form until 2006; this is its first authorized recording. It demonstrates the 21-year-old Lutoslawski's early enthusiasm for French music and even betrays some amount of modeling after Ravel's Sonatine. Running nearly half an hour, it is unusual to encounter, in 2008, a work of major proportions from a key twentieth century composer that no one has touched before, and the sheer sense of discovery makes the heart palpitate. Cheng's knowing and fluidizing approach propels Lutoslawski's efficient craft like liquid mercury driving a bolt of electricity. A French accent also informs Steven Stucky's Four Album Leaves (2002) as well, although the slight form of these pieces refers to the albumblätter of German romantics. Nevertheless, the first three pieces are reminiscent of Messiaen, with the last sort of like the clustery harmony of Henry Cowell meeting a fugitive vision of Prokofiev. Stucky's Three Little Variations for David (2001), based on "Happy Birthday," are even tinier than the album leaves. Stucky contributes useful, well-written, and informative liners to this disc. The balance of the program is given to Salonen, who, like Stucky, turns to the piano "as a laboratory for testing materials that might then migrate to other surroundings." Static electricity seems to be what Salonen is testing in his early Yta II (1985), an icy, slippery piece that is like running in place on ice skates. Dichotomie (2000) is a major work, its motoric "Mécanisme" and more fluid "Organisme" approaching the futuristic and impressionistic, respectively, however remaining original in style and bereft of reference or nostalgia. Salonen's Three Preludes (2005) demonstrate an increased consciousness of piano technique, including virtuoso passagework and some degree of near romantic expressiveness, a world away from Yta II. Cheng's tremendous agility, endurance, and strength make this music not only possible, but enjoyable; what might seem to some like a typical scary exercise in contemporary music becomes a first-class listening experience for even the uninitiated, simply because Cheng puts it over so well. She is handily assisted by Telarc's great sound, sensitive to every sound that comes out of the instrument yet bathed in a warm ambience in which all elements are clear and direct. Gloria Cheng: Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky and Lutoslawski is not only a first-tier recital of contemporary music, but it restores one's faith in living composers' ability to communicate, while retaining some vestige of the visionary, and as such it is very highly recommended. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis , Rovi Lire la suite...