Melodiya's anthology of new music is part of a much more visible and
aggressive artistic policy of late. This is the second disc in a series of
piano compositions, and it takes music written from 1991 onwards from
composers who may not have received that much international exposure.
Kirill Volkov's Fifth Piano Sonata of 2010, heard in a premiere recording,
in a somewhat dry and cool studio acoustic, marries percussive dynamism with
folkloric colour. Its taut and driving qualities are impressive. I sense
also a structural kinship with Beethoven's Op.109, though not an expressive
one, necessarily. But the folk inflexions and the hints of
post-impressionism are attractive, as is the commanding feeling of defiance
elsewhere. Tatiana Chudova, a contemporary of Volkov, is represented by her
1996 Sonata, another of the pieces being heard in first-ever recordings. It
starts with a toccata whirlwind, a sonata allegro couched in post-Prokofiev
style. Restless and sinewy and well-structured in one movement - but clearly
delineated sections - this is a spirited, dynamic piece. The last in the
trio of 1940s composers is Tolib Shakhidi, Tajikistan's leading composer and
a student of Khachaturian. His two pieces offer evocative-sound worlds.
Sufi and Buddha (2002) is a concert etude with eastern cadences and
a pile-driving level of energy amidst the more reflective moments of stasis.
Playing Backgammon is a
perpetuum mobile which opens with
the same level of toccata-like velocity that characterises much of Chudova's
Sonata.
Yuri Vorontsov, by contrast, prefers in
Sirius to concentrate on
aspects of cosmic light. His sense of cool prismic colour building
incrementally to a motion-driven crescendo is exciting, as is the refracting
telescope of his imagination. The youngest of the composers is Alexei
Sergunin, born in 1988, who has clearly been listening to American models.
The recently written
Origami has plenty of effective contrasts,
hints of minimalism, and some jazzy ones too. Altogether it's un-didactic
and refreshing. Finally we hear from the music of Alexei Sysoyev whose 2009
piece
Antiphases explores a violent crisis between left and right
hands, allowing for moments of brooding introspection in its central
section.
A notable feature of the six works is that they're performed by six
different pianists. It denies the opportunity of a single interpretative
viewpoint but allows one to hear six independent voices. The recording
quality invariably varies between locations - some chillier than others -
but this is an inventive piece of programming that will appeal to
adventurous pianophiles.
Jonathan Woolf
