Two Virtuosic Piano Works
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 03/19/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are two works on this CD of piano music played by 20th (and now 21st) century music specialist, Winston Choi: Ravel's 'Gaspard de la Nuit', which has been recorded many times before and marvelously by the likes of Argerich, Michelangeli, Berezovsky, Angela Hewitt and Vlado Perlemuter; and the previously unrecorded 'Elemental Figures' by the late Yvar Mikhashoff (1941-1993). While I was impressed by Choi's fleet-fingered 'Gaspard', it is the Mikhashoff that I want to focus on. The exotically named Yvar Mikhashoff was an American pianist and composer who was born Ronald McKay in upstate New York and who studied at Eastman, Juilliard, the University of Houston and the University of Texas, as well as with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He was best known as a pianist of voracious interests and repertoire, but he composed right along.
'Elemental Figures' was written late in his tragically short career, in the 1970s. The first of the 'Elemental Figures' to be composed is the one now in second position among the three sections. Called 'Shaman', it is based on the Fibonacci series (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21...) and has a upward 'Indian rattle' figure motif that occurs every thirteen beats from beginning to end. Mikhashoff used two Papago Indian tunes to build this movement. The first movement, 'Diviner', and the finale, 'Sybil', are similar in texture to the first and third section of 'Gaspard': 'Diviner' is like 'Ondine' in that a simple filigreed melody must stand out against a dense accompaniment , and 'Sybil' is a diabolical waltz like 'Scarbo'. All three movements require the same kind of Lisztian technique as the Ravel work. Mikhashoff's score is complex enough that there are frequent passages that require four staves in order to clarify voice leading. The music is not exactly tonal but certainly is not atonal either. There is a good deal of free improvisatory effect, and an incantatory quality obtains. Overall there is a mystical and hypnotic effect from these three movements. Winston Choi, known for his tacking difficult contemporary music, gives a marvelously evocative performance.
Scott Morrison"
Track Listings (2) - Disc #1