Search - Ursula Oppens :: American Piano Music of Our Time

A highly enjoyable recital of American contemporary piano mu

Discophage | France | 10/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1989 Music & Arts had published a first collection of "American Piano Music of our Time" played by Ursula Oppens (it can be found under the entry American Piano Works), whose two main courses were Elliott Carter's Night Fantasies and John Adams Phrygian Gates, with appetizers and accompanying dishes in the form of a series of tangos, including Conlon Nancarrow's. That release was met with great critical acclaim, leading to this sequel, published in 1992 (which, at the time of writing, can also be found under American Piano Music Of Our Time Volume II, cheaper). Here, except for the short "Old and Lost Rivers" of Tobias Picker, the compositions are more equally balanced in timing and importance. Another important characteristic is that they were all composed for, dedicated to and sometimes (Wuorinen, Davis) comissionned by the pianist. And indeed, the disc is aptly subtitled "For Ursula". Last but not least, other than Picker's "Old and Lost Rivers" - in which he seems to be trying to imitate Burt Bacharach or making a a pitch to get hired by Clint Eastwood to compose the music of "The Bridges of Maddison County" - all the compositions contained therein are rewarding.



Nancarrow's Two Canons for Ursula were composed in 1988, when the belated discovery of the composer by the musical world led him to write again for "normal" piano (rather than for the player-piano that has become so integrally associated with him). The two canons are echt-Nancarrow, apparently dauntingly difficult in the challenging two-hand independence they call for, and with the jagged rhythms and limping boogie-woogies one has grown to know and love through the Studies for player piano. One is aghast that not a player piano but ten human fingers are playing that music. Nancarrow is quite unique in contemporary music as his music is not only highly inventive, complex, intricate, demanding - it is downright funny.



In its busy activity and jazzy, syncopated and limping rhythms, Frederic Rzewski's variations on the traditional Yiddish ballad "Mayn Yingele" (My Little Boy), composed in 1988, is at times close to Nancarrow. It is also very much of its composer in its willingness to embrace Romantic gestures and melodies, and is quite remarkable for the variety of moods it conjures and for its sheer pianistic energy and gusto.



Charles Wuorinen's "The Blue Bamboula" (1980) is possibly the toughest nut to crack here, but it is whimsical, mercurial, cryptic, busy, inventive and, like Rzewski's composition, it is a feast of ear-catching pianistic activity.



John Harbison's Sonata (1985) I find more elusive and less markedly personal, although it offers many striking moments. The introductory slow movement starts in dreamy mood and soon evolves into a more dramatic, stern and not very seductive post-Bergian style, then alternating between both moods without giving much sense of direction. At 4:28 enter elements of a whimsical scherzo, turning into evocative and impressionistic piano ripples introducing a passage of haunting nocturnal mystery. At 8:05 starts a muscular scherzo in jagged, jazzy rhythms, bringing Copland's piano sonata to mind. The pensive mood of the beginning returns at 11:45, leading at 13:30 to another scurrying, bell-like passage, followed (14:23) by whimsical, dancing trills. "The piece seems dreamed up rather than premeditated" writes the composer, and this is an apt description.



Anthony Davis' "Middle Passage" (1983) is also an impressive piece, highly virtuosic, playing on mysterious, nocturnal resonances (depressed sustaining pedal, machine-gun repeated notes) and conjuring a variety of moods, down to frenetic runs reminiscent of Antheil or Cowell's "Advertisement" (around 2:00), and syncopated passages evocative of Nancarrow (around 4:00), and a striking dramatic statement and dialogue between low and high register over bell-like (fast, repetitive arpeggios) accompaniment (5:30). Not that these reminiscences mean that Davis is derivative, it is all integrated in a very consistent and personal whole.



Except for Picker then, in all these works the composers have not relinquished their compositional exigencies, have not tried to pander to the most undemanding public's tastes, but still have managed to write music that is personal, inventive and reasonably accessible and seductive. This is a highly enjoyable recital of contemporary piano music and a fine tribute to Ursula Oppens.



The two recitals by the way can be found as a 2 CD set under Plays American Piano Music of Our Time or American Piano Music of Our Time, but as I write, it is cheaper to buy them separately."