One of the few current labels to search for new sounds, Neuma Records has released three new albums that focus on the piano, but this is not your grandmother’s piano…
Composer William Duckworth has his compositions interpreted by pianist Emanuele Arcuili on a collection of 12 Preludes and also bringing in vocalist Costanza Savarese for “Simple Songs About Sex and War”. Don’t worry, it’s PG rated.
Of the “Time Curve Preludes” the twelve tunes range from 1-4 minutes, some, like the stately “VI”, or the dark “”VII” and dreamy “ II” evoking hints of Satie. There is some wonderful lurking on “III” and joyful prancing for “IX” with a majestic rumble concluding the collection on ‘XII”. The “Simple Songs” all have a chamber feel to them, with the rich toned Savarese giving a folk feel to the stately “Six O’Clock” and weaving a story with “The Stranger”. The album gives an overall feeling of ideas emitted from the family parlor, and not the concert hall.
Pianist Philip Bush interprets a collection of pieces from early 20th Century composers Charles Ives and Mario Bauer. Ives’ Piano Sonata No. 2 focuses on the Transcendental writers, with “Emerson” filled with dark drama, “Hawthorne” consumed by a harrowing mix of a percussive avalanche and hints of jazz, “The Alcotts” prim and proper, and “Thoreau” using time and space and bringing in the graceful flute of Jennifer Parker-Harley. Portraits of philosophers.
Bauer’s Six Preludes For Piano, Op. 15 consists of six pieces ranging form 1-2 ½ minutes. “Prelude No. 1” is a rumbling mix of drama and space, while “2” and “4” are impressionistic concepts harkening to Debussy. The ivories ripple on “3” and rustle on “6” all using silence as a sound in itself. Music using a small paint brush.
The prepared piano was one of the legacies of composer John Cage, and this album with Agnese Toniutti gives a tribute to the iconoclastic sound and attitude. There is a collection of 16 sonatas and four Interludes interspersed between. The piano itself carries with it a wide range of tones, at times sounding like the Indonesian Kolintang as on “Fourth Interlude”, the Gamelon during “Sonatas “XIV & XV” and “Sonata XII”. Other times, you think you’re winding up a Jack in the Box on “Sonata IX” or tinkering with a toy piano on “Sonata VII” with even Coke bottles giving reference on the percussive “Sonata VI”. Toniutti gives a jazzy marimba feel to “Sonata V” and clippety-clops like a travelling medicine show caravan during “Sonata III”, complete with banjo picking on “Sonata II”. Is the listener prepared for the prepared piano?