Cantus
Arvo PÄRT (b.1935)
Für Alina (1975) [4:00]
Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977) [6:27]
Fratres I (1977) [8:10]
Steve REICH (b.1936)
New York Counterpoint (1985) [11:14]
Hywel DAVIES
*Purl Ground, for marimba (2003) [11:24]
Arvo PÄRT
Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) [10:25]
(All works except * arranged for percussion by Kuniko Kato)
Kuniko Kato (marimba, vibraphone, crotales, bells)
rec. BankArt 1929 NYK Studio, Yokohama, Japan, 4-8 August 2012 (Spiegel,
Fratres); Lake Sagami Hall, Kamagawa, Japan, 2-22 November 2012 (Cantus,
Reich, Davies); Azumino church, Nagano, Japan, 6-7 November 2012 (Für
Alina).
LINN CKD 432 
[51:40]
Estonia is one of the few countries of the world
of which it can be said that its most famous musician is a composer
of art music. Arvo Pärt is that man, although to hear his name
uttered by non-Finnic-language speakers, it seems he is widely thought
to be German - in fact, the -ä- of Pärt is similar to the
-a- of 'pat' rather than the -e- of 'pet', and neither 'r' is silent.
Right pronunciation or wrong, Pärt has written much excellent music.
None of it, unfortunately, has made it into percussionist Kuniko Kato's
programme for this recording. Instead, she has selected the four banal
works he is, ironically, famous for. The question then is, does anyone
really need to hear them arranged, however skilfully, for marimba or
vibraphone? 'Need', definitely not. But 'want'? Most likely, yes: Linn
and Kato surely know that this is precisely the kind of thing that virtually
anyone might buy, whether the student looking for middle-brow chill-out
music, the Classic FM-listening mum with a pile of ironing to do, or
the self-styled trendy for whom the adoration of Steve Reich is
de
rigueur. Indeed, Kato's first album, 'Kuniko Plays Reich', was Linn's
bestseller of 2011.
This time she felt inspired to rearrange Pärt, and more Reich,
"to make minimalist music more accessible", as she puts it in the accompanying
notes. She does not explain how she proposes to reinvent this particular
wheel, nor indeed how she overcomes what she considers to be the "huge
challenge" of interpreting "the raw emotion of each composition". Not
unlike minimalist music itself, Kato's notes are in fact ingratiating,
self-important and hyperbolic: whilst Hywel Davies's Purl Ground - a
softer, slower, less eventful version of Reich's New York Counterpoint!
- is a "highly important piece", Pärt's music "has incredible qualities:
the ability to convey the entire scope of human emotion as well as the
immense force and harshness of the natural world in which we live."
Note that she is not talking about his symphonies, Credo or Stabat Mater,
but about the child-like piano cameo Für Alina and the reflective
but trite and interminable Spiegel im Spiegel.
On the other hand it must be said that Kato has an impeccable sense
of rhythm and a capacity for concentration that goes way beyond anything
that could reasonably be expected of her audience as they listen to
these repetitious pieces. Yet, though jejune on many levels, it cannot
be denied that these works, Pärt's especially, have a mesmeric
quality that sucks the unwary listener into the Void. Kato's superb
control of the marimba and vibraphone deepens these pulsing, rocking
and 'tintinnabular' effects. Ultimately her CD will appeal greatly to
those who consider minimalism the best thing since sliced bread, and
not at all to those that find it about as varied and characterful as
just such a loaf.
Linn do have a deserved reputation for excellent sound quality, easily
upheld here, but frankly the engineering dollars would have been better
spent elsewhere, not least because some of the tracks have been studio-reprocessed
anyway. At least Linn have not been generous with the timing.
Byzantion
Contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
