Composer: Augusta Read Thomas, Ursula Mamlok, Tania Leon, Graciane Finzi, Karola Obermüller, Errollyn Wallen, Santa Ratniece, Anna Þorvaldsdóttir, Sofia Gubaidulina, Misato Mochizuki
Performer: Luca Quintavalle
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release: 2022
Size: 389 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Thomas: Fire Waltz – Homage to Béla Bartók
Mamlok: Three Bagatelles
02. I. Grazioso
03. II. Very Calm
04. III. Playful
05. Leon: Tumbáo
06. Finzi: Espressivo
Obermüller: Suite des Femmages
07. I. Tolling
08. II. Thundering
09. III. Piercing
10. IV. Fast
11. Wallen: Louis’ Loop
12. Ratniece: Mira
13. Þorvaldsdóttir: Impressions
14. Gubaidulina: Ritorno Perpetuo
15. Mochizuki: Moebius-Ring
A transcontinental exhibition of modern female composers writing for the harpsichord in a dazzling array of styles, featuring many first recordings.
Ursula Mamlok’s Three Bagatelles are miniatures characterized by a free application of serial technique, courting expressionist parallels with rhetorical, concentrated gestures. In Tumbáo, Tania Leon uses a string bass pattern from her native Cuba without being confined to a specifically Latin style in its development. Graciane Finzi’s Espressivo evokes Romanticism (the period when the harpsichord almost disappeared from view) and could even be heard as an evocation of Chopin, but for a complementary tape part featuring a second, detuned harpsichord.
Karola Obermüller composed the Suite des femmages as a set of tributes to both the composer Ruth Crawford Seeger and Obermüller’s own mother, Barbara, and they are accordingly imbued with a ferocity and a bracing power which reflects her admiration for both the women and their accomplishments. Errolyn Wallen dedicated Louis’ Loop to her infant godson, and there is a playful quality to the juxtaposition of frenetic activity with oases of peace, where echoes of the past resurface poetically and sometimes with subtle irony.
Santa Ratniece took inspiration from the world of astronomy for Mira, which is named after a kind of pulsing star: with every pulse cycle, Mira increases in luminosity and strength. The Mobius-Ring of Misato Mochizuki describes an earthly scientific phenomenon, looping like Wallen’s and Ratniece’s works through evolving pulsations of the same material. Sofia Gubaidulina organised the Ritorno Perpetuo along complementary principles of varied repetition, determined in part by numerology and the Fibonacci sequence. This is the most extensive work on the album, but every piece here has something distinctive to say, and gains from its contrast with the others.
A previous album of Italian contemporary works for harpsichord on Brilliant Classics demonstrated Luca Quintavalle’s eclectic reach and mastery of diverse styles, to which this unique collection makes a lively sequel.