Meredith Monk is a familiar name to ECM collectors and those attuned to
contemporary music, being in some ways 'part of the furniture', and in other
ways one of those innovative voices without whom we would be much the
poorer. I much enjoyed her
Songs of Ascension (see
review), and of course found this album of
Piano
Songs irresistible.
The music here was written between 1971 and 2006, having its roots in
Monk's pieces for voice and most being song-like in terms of duration and
associations. In the words of the composer, "I delved into different
relationships and the possibilities between them; material passed back and
forth, dialogues, interlocking phrases, shifts of figure and ground. In some
pieces, I emphasized the individuality of each piano, writing for one player
as the 'singer,' the other as the 'accompaniment'; in other pieces, I wanted
the two pianos to make one large sound."
The actual music often has a minimalistic feel, with repeated and rhythmic
pulse underlying a melodic directness which tickles the imagination and
invites the invention of one's own lyrics. There are but few moments which
go beyond the piano, such as the clapping and shouts which open
Folkdance, and part of the fascination is identifying with the
character of the music with its title.
Paris has a Satie-esque
Gallic feel with some Dada random notes thrown in like a free jazz exponent
crashing the party. The rolling stock of
Railroad is unmistakable,
and the playful simplicity of
Parlour Games is underpinned from
about halfway through with a little bass riff straight out of a Morricone
film score - 'For a Fistful of Dollars' unless I am much mistaken.
Amongst my favourites are the more poetic, slower pieces such as
Urban
March, which builds inexorably, and the
St Petersburg Waltz
which is almost anything but a typical waltz. The
Phanton Waltz is
a perfect close. These are all wide-ranging, simple musical ideas which are
taken on and explored in directions which are invariably surprising, though
each with a sense of logic and process which gives us little insights into
the mind at work. One can imagine some of them being composed fairly
quickly, but we can also engage with the sense of input and exhaustive
completeness poised within each framework.
Ursula Oppens and Bruce Brubaker are ideal partners in these pieces, with
Oppens as much a household name in contemporary music as Monk, and Brubaker
a recognised performer of American minimalist music. Bruce Brubaker's
comments on the music in this album sum up its content in a nutshell:
"There's an intriguing balance in Meredith's piano music between simplicity
and a kind of music you've never really heard before. It feels familiar and
strange at the same time. Some elements can sound almost like folk music,
but they can be challenging in the way they fit together. Meredith's music
has a wonderful inevitability to it, as if she discovered it as much as
composed it."
The recording of
Piano Songs was very much done in the spirit of
collaboration, with the composer in the studio during the sessions. With
such an excellent recording and a spirit of both discipline and spontaneity
in every piece, this is the kind of piano disc which we come across but
rarely.
Dominy Clements
