Zaimont is one of those composers who makes use of the works
of earlier composers to build up a montage of quotations. The
effect is sometimes disconcert: her orchestral work Ghosts,
also available on Naxos,
begins with such a literal quotation from Britten’s Serenade
that one is startled when the voice of Peter Pears does not
chime in with “The splendour falls on castle walls”.
The booklet notes with that release fail to explain the significance
of the quotations she employs. The same is true of the issue
under consideration here. The Piano Sonata contains a
substantial meditation, at first literal and then elaborated,
upon Beethoven’s Pathètique Sonata. The
booklet notes by the pianist on this recording make no mention
of the fact; neither do they explain what particular relevance
it might have to Zaimont’s music. Indeed, Christopher
Atzinger states quite specifically that the music of the sonata
is “decisively tonal throughout”. This statement
is somewhat misleading if the listener anticipates a work in
neo-romantic or deliberately diatonic style. What we have instead
is a somewhat Prokofiev-like synthesis of a decidedly percussive
style with more avant-garde elements. These even have
overtones of early Stockhausen employing extremes of the keyboard
and quite violent juxtapositions of register and dynamics.
This is not to say that the music is forbidding or unapproachable.
Once the listener overcomes the expectations aroused by the
description in the booklet, it is indeed quite enjoyable. The
very opening of the sonata brings a series of unrelated chords
not a million miles away from late Debussy. The later elaboration
of the material is carefully worked out; but all the excellent
if somewhat strenuous playing of Atzinger cannot disguise the
fact that the most interesting passages occur when the composer
quotes from others, and that Zaimont’s own writing lacks
a distinctive profile. Knowledge that the composer is prone
to use quotations even leads one to half-grab at references
that may not have been intended. In the first movement of the
Piano Sonata, is she at 6:11 meaning to hint at No
place like home, and if so to what purpose? Similarly the
quotation from Beethoven which finally emerges at 8:00 in the
slow movement has been teasingly anticipated at so many points
beforehand that on first hearing one is aware of a nagging sense
of familiarity. On a second hearing one is tickled by the expectation
that the theme one now expects will finally be revealed. What
it all comes down to is that quotation from other composers
is a dangerous device. When it is used to subvert one’s
impressions - as in Berio’s Sinfonia - it can be
amusing and stimulating by turns, but it can, all too easily,
lead the listener into an attempt to ‘spot the tune’
and overlook the original material which surrounds it. It took
this listener three hearings to overcome this tendency and enjoy
Zaimont’s writing for its own sake. Once that is achieved
the result is not unpleasurable. The final Toccata is
a brilliant tour de force and here the references to
Schumann, Ravel and Prokofiev which Atzinger cites are not so
obtrusive.
The Nocturne which follows the sonata is described by
Zaimont as a “personal valentine [sic] to the great
pianist-composers of the Romantic Era.” The slow outer
sections are nicely atmospheric, but the more troubled central
section seems somewhat less appropriate to the feelings that
the composer is seeking to express. The twelve miniatures, one
for each month of the year, that make up A calendar set
are each illustrated by subtitles or poetic quotations. The
work, originally written for the composer’s own use in
recitals, was only published in 2005. The programmatic intent
of the music gives plentiful opportunity for contrast, and Zaimont
eagerly seizes on these. Once again two of the movements feature
quotations: July¸ subtitled The Glorious Fourth!,
contains references to a number of American patriotic pieces
including Sousa and Yankee doodle, while December
includes hints of several Christmas carols. The ‘braggart’
march theme which opens March also sounds as though it
should be a quotation from something else, as do passages in
May. This highlights another danger of Zaimont’s
‘pastiche’ technique, which has the unfortunate
side-effect of leading the listener to suspect quotation when
none may have been intended. August, with a quote from
Thomas Tusser’s “Dry August and warm,” is
a lovely little meditative piece which builds to an emotional
climax.
Zaimont’s music has been featured on a number of Naxos
releases - not only that of orchestral music to which reference
was made in the opening paragraph of this review - and those
who have already discovered the composer will need no incentive
to invest in this disc. The music is superbly played and very
well recorded.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Christopher Atzinger (piano) 