I approached this disc
with the anticipation that one might
have before one’s first visit to a new
restaurant that served exotic cuisine.
Alas, I left the table with a bad taste
in my mouth and still hungry.
Judith Lang Zaimont
has a number of hefty commissions, numerous
awards and an impressive pedigree on
both the student and faculty sides of
academia to her credit. Her name pops
up frequently at conferences and she
receives regular commissions, with over
one hundred works in her catalogue,
and a post as composition professor
at the University of Minnesota, which
has a rather highly regarded music school.
With that, one simply has to wonder
why this music is not any better than
it is.
The most extensive
work on this recital is the sprawling
three-movement Sonata for solo piano.
In an effort to be not only fair, but
also diligent, I listened to this piece
three times, three rather excruciating
times. Although the rather sycophantic
program notes tout the formal structure
of this piece, I was unable to find
it, and not for lack of looking. What
is supposed to be a sonata is not much
more than twenty-nine minutes of mind-numbing
wandering up and down the keyboard,
with nothing formal, melodic or harmonic,
upon which to grasp and take home. Listening
to it is rather akin to eating a big
meal of Chinese food. You are full when
you are finished, but you get hungry
again really fast. At best, I found
this work to pass for a second tier
imitation of Keith Jarrett’s improvisations.
The Nocturne
and the suite Jupiter’s Moons
fare little better. For a set of pieces
that are supposed to depict astral bodies,
there is little that is stellar about
this music. Again, with the wandering
improvisations. I would never assert
that music has to be tuneful to be worthy,
but it is certainly necessary to have
some sort of unifying gesture, either
rhythmically or in the melodies to give
a work a sense of cohesion. Even after
overtly careful listening, I was left
with a big question mark on my page
of notes when I was finished.
The saving grace of
this recital is the charming Hesitation
Rag, which is to these ears the
only memorable moment out of more than
an hour’s worth of music. This is indeed
a little delight, and one wonders why
the composer cannot stick to discernable
formal structures in her more extended
works when this one is assembled so
very well.
Joanne Polk is a pianist
with excellent technique, and can certainly
make her way around the keyboard with
agility. Her color palette is broad,
and she contributes much to make this
music more interesting than it really
is. One wonders though why a pianist
of such skill would put in so much time
to prepare such an unrewarding recital.
Jeffrey James contributes
some rather wordy and pretentious program
notes that seem to defend the music
rather than describe it. Sound quality
is acceptable, and the packaging is
reasonably attractive. In short, this
is a disc for fans of the composer.
Kevin Sutton
Joanne Polk, piano 