Search - Witold Lutoslawski, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Bent Sorensen :: Shadows of Silence

Modern Masterpieces Performed with Verve and Finesse

Robert Manari | San Francisco, CA United States | 11/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leif Ove Andsnes is an amazing talent known for his rare capability to combine verve and virtuosity with abundant touch and finesse. The New Yorker has called the Norwegian pianist "one of the intimidating few who possess power and personality in equal measure", while the Financial Times has called him "an eminently sensual musician, an artist capable of grace and introspection", and the present recording offers plenty to support those accolades. As an exclusive EMI Classics artist, Andsnes has recorded over 30 discs spanning a wide-ranging repertoire from Bach to Shostakovich and has been nominated for seven Grammies and awarded many international prizes including four Gramophone Awards to date.



"Shadows of Silence", released in spring of 2009, features works by the Danish composer Bent Sorensen and the French Marc-Andre Dalbavie both of which works Andsnes premiered with great success at New York's Carnegie Hall and London Proms respectively. The other major piece on this CD is Witold Lutoslawski's Piano Concerto, composed in 1988 in Poland and well on its way of becoming not only a classic but also one of the greatest piano concertos of the second half of the 20th Century. They are all convincingly played with the flair and energy that this wonderful artist, Leif Ove Andsnes, is renowned to possess in generous quantities. Highly recommended.

"

A varied and entertaining collection of contemporary piano m

Christopher Culver | 01/16/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leif Ove Andsnes is not a pianist traditionally associated with contemporary repertoire, but on this EMI disc he plays a programme consisting entirely of recent piano works by four composers, including a couple of world-premiere recordings. Andsnes was even the dedicatee of two of the pieces, so his reading is an especially important document.



Bent Sorensen has long been a secret of the Danish musical world. He studied with Per Norgard, but has a style all his own, writing music that references the Romantic tradition but with alterations that make the music seem decayed, like looking at an old photograph. In the brief "Lullabies" for solo piano (2000) this is done by ending lines almost as soon as they've begun, as if they were half-forgotten. In the much longer "The Shadows of Silence" for solo piano (2003-04), the purity of the musical line is constantly undermined by tremolos. Sorensen's music didn't grab me the first time I heard it like some of my favourite composers, but I'm slowly coming around to him and I think he's one of the most interesting figures writing at the moment.



Marc-Andre Dalbavie's Piano Concerto (2005) continues this composer's interest in combining the traditions of common-practice tonality with the insights of the spectralist school, a kind of "metatonality". The percussive interplay of the piano and the orchestra gives the impression that Dalbavie was looking back to Bartok's first and second concertos. The piano part is not especially great, as much of it consists of simple scales. The orchestral writing holds my interest more, containing such beloved Dalbavie sounds as a quiet hush of overtones pierced by a glowing brass tone. Dalbavie is a consistently entertaining composer, but he's rarely a deep one, and works like this as his recent Flute Concerto (on another EMI disc) serve as ear candy but you never stop feeling that he's amassing stock gestures.



The one established repetoire work here is Witold Lutoslawski's Piano Concerto (1990). I don't really care for late Lutoslawski, as he abandoned the highly chromatic harmonies and use of aleatorism that made his mid-period work so individual. This concerto begins with about forty seconds of excellent vintage Lutoslawski, but is mainly completely unadventurous. The solo part is based mainly on octaves and thirds, giving the music a strong tonal centre. There's more of an emphasis on flutterly little motifs than earlier Lutoslawski, and a dramatic arc that speaks more of romanticism than the complexity of the 20th century.



Andsnes fills out this program with some of Gyorgy Kurtag's "Jatekok" miniatures. While concerts where Kurtag and his wife perform these pieces endow them with a vaster dimension, here they function more as humorous diversions between the two heavy concertos.



Though the Lutoslawski is weak and the Dalbavie leaves me with somewhat mixed feeligns, this is nonetheless a generally entertaining disc and a safe bet for anyone interested in contemporary piano music."

Absolutely superlative landmark performances

Henry Slofstra | Waterloo, ON Canada | 05/25/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the kind of disc that can win listeners to contemporary repertoire. In fact, if you are curious about 20th century music beyond Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, then I strongly recommend this disk. Both the Lutoslawski and Dablavie concertos are tour-de-force performances of major works. The Sorensen pieces are not as strong as these two landmark compositions, but still top drawer, and enjoyable and interesting.

This CD is a sterling performance of important, seminal repertoire; it's one of those landmark disks that come along only every few years. I would recommend this without qualification; the sound is also excellent.

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