Composer Maurice Ohana is much more of a recognised name in
France and Spain than further north or east. He is often described
as French - especially by the French - but though born in French
Morocco, his mother was Spanish and his father Gibraltarian.
From the latter he inherited not only a fluent knowledge of
English but also British citizenship! He spent his youth mainly
in Spain, but soon moved to and settled in France.
His music has been recorded quite frequently, particularly by
French and Spanish labels. A French website
in his memory lists 22 CDs, including the above, on a variety
of labels, including single contributions from Naxos and Warner
Classics. This 4-CD
Erato boxed set gives a fine and broad introduction to this
very interesting composer.
This is the third recording of Ohana's Etudes d'Interprétation.
A decade ago French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet recorded all
twelve - see review
although Ohana's birth date given there is the erroneous one
he claimed all his life. Marie-Paule Siruguet soon followed
suit on a disc published by Rouen University. On the present
CD Chilean pianist María Paz Santibáñez, perhaps rather unfortunately,
omits the last two Etudes from the second book, "for extramusical
reasons", as the notes rather coyly put it - the truth
being that they call for the additional services of a percussionist.
The Etudes d'Interprétation are akin to Messiaen tempered,
but not much, by Debussy. There is little in the way of melody
and the harmonies, though often toothsome, are largely dissonant,
sometimes in the form of cluster chords. Factor in unpredictable
rhythms, plenty of big leaps in register, a non-traditional,
complex sense of structure - the ninth Study is in barless notation,
for example - and a general atonality, and the totality is no
easy listen.
Ohana's music is not, however, anywhere near as daunting as
Stockhausen or Boulez, and offers up considerable reward to
the attentive listener interested in the pianistic exploration
of textures and sonorities. The fifth Etude, aptly entitled
'Fifths', is even relatively easy on the ears, and perhaps the
best place of ingress into the rest of the work. These are
technical studies, for sure - the individual titles bear witness
to that, and their virtuosic nature is unarguable. The expressive
element is also very important, and the Etudes are typically
characterised by formal freedom, timbral ambiguity and communicative
assertiveness.
María Paz Santibáñez's name is consistently spelt "Santibañez"
in the Spanish and Catalan notes, but the acute accent is added
for the English and French, which has the effect of moving the
spoken stress from the final syllable to the penult. An internet
search of Spanish-language-only sites reveals a strong preference
in favour of the accent, which would therefore signify a careless
typo. In any case, Santibáñez is equal to the considerable technical
demands of Ohana's music, and generally comes across as a potent
advocate for this neglected late 20th century work - a pity,
again, that she did not find a percussionist to help her complete
Book II.
Sound quality is excellent. The CD booklet is reasonably informative,
but the translation into English, even though undertaken by
a native speaker, is undeniably sloppy in places, sometimes
distorting the meaning of the original. For example, the Spanish
and Catalan refer to Ligeti's "mecanicismo" - this
should surely be translated as "mechanicism", not
"mechanism". The translator also misapplies quotation
marks at one point, referring to a purported Etude which is
actually no more than a turn of phrase of the Catalan author
- "intervals entre els més dissonants o de consonància
perfecta" - which the translator, bizarrely, has even rendered
into French to match the genuine Etude titles.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
María Paz Santibáñez (piano)
