Atmospheric and expressive piano works from Hugh Shrapnel performed with virtuosic command by the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble

I reviewed a recording from the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble (pianists Natalie Tsaldarakis and Panayotis Archontides) performing piano music by composers John Lewis (b.1947) and Hugh Shrapnel (b.1947) back in 2020 (here), and I very much enjoyed their atmospheric yet virtuosic performances. They’re back, with Piano Works, this time just by Hugh Shrapnel. On the previous recording, I was struck by the variety of Shrapnel’s mostly miniature pieces, from moody and atmospheric to energetic and at times even aggressive, and this new recording confirms that variety in Shrapnel’s writing for the piano. Again, there are few pieces here longer than a few minutes, yet within this miniature form, Shrapnel captures a mood instantly. A pecking Robin, a weird unidentified creature (insect? small rodent?) in Jump, or comedic, even slightly chaotic Jugglers, all feature in his Piano Set No. 1, alongside the darker, more introspective moods of Shade and Wood at Night. On this disc, in fact there are only two pieces for the duo – the rest are works for solo piano, and they are split fairly evenly between Tsaldarakis and Archontides. So Tsaldarakis takes the Piano Set No. 1, and captures beautifully those mood swings from one momentary movement to the next, some under a minute long. There is a lazy, bluesy tiredness to Small Hours, and Red Queen’s minimalist running on the spot is delivered effortlessly. Archontides plays Shrapnel’s Sonatina, ostensibly more formally structured, but still with now familiar elements such as rippling movement and subtly shifting harmonies, but Archontides also captures the lilting yet plangent mood of the central movement, written as a memorial to Shrapnel’s father. Archontides also takes Love-Hate, contrasting an almost violent opening with more introspective, reflective passages, and his tone is rich and resonant, with a deep tolling bass. And in Esquisse mécanique, written for a volume of piano music inspired by Alkan, Archontides’ virtuosity shines through, its playful, perpetual 5/8 rhythms rippling along without much let up, and exploiting the extreme registers of the keyboard. He also takes two of the three movements of Le Temps Perdu, giving the second movement’s slightly sarcastic, tango-esque rhythms quite dramatic weight, contrasting with the calmer yet darker mood of the slower third movment. Tsaldarkis’ opening movement of this set is playful with hints at dance rhythms within a jazzy, cabaret-style mood. Tsaldarkis performs Sphinxes (drawing on the sets of cryptogram notes Schumann laid out in the middle of Carnival), which is full of silence and hanging resonance, with just a brief moment of outburst adding to the mystery. Premonition is full of foreboding, with its contrary motion between the hands and tolling bells, and For Bob, a tribute to Robert Coleridge, a friend and colleague of Shrapnel’s, shares some of the same bell-like tolling, with repeating falling cries, which later become more chordal in texture, possibly even slightly angry in tone. The players join for just two pieces. In Follow me up to Carlow, Shrapnel pays tribute to his composition teacher Cornelius Cardew, drawing on an old Irish tune celebrating victory over English soldiers at the Battle of Glenmalure. The longest track here, at nearly eight minutes, this is a piece full of dramatic rhythmic energy, and its cross-rhythms build in intensity over insistent rumblings in the bass. The two pianists circle each other in the virtuosic sections, yet retreat into a more reflective mood, before everything comes together for a slightly frenzied climax, before subsiding into ringing chords and tolling bass notes. And they end the disc with For an Alternative, another piece honouring Cardew, with clamorous, resonant bells to open, before driving rhythmic energy takes hold, and here the duo’s virtuosic timing is particularly impressive. This is a great showcase for the variety of expression and mood in Shrapnel’s piano writing, as well as for the virtuosic command of these two pianists, alone or as a duo. 

Shrapnel, H. 2023. Hugh Shrapnel: Piano Works. Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble. Compact Disc. Convivium Records. CR087.  

CD Reviews - April 2023

Pianist Sarah Cahill has reached the third and final volume of her series, ‘The Future is Female’. This volume is called ‘At Play’, and as with previous volumes, the very broad repertoire is set out in chronological order. The earliest work here is the Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 5 No. 3 (1811) from Hélène de Montgeroult (1764-1836), but then following a short but delightfully virtuosic Thème varié, Op. 98, full of drama and stylistic variety, from Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) composed in 1895, we’re straight into the mid-20th century and beyond. Going back to the Montgeroult, she was new to me when I reviewed Clare Hammond’s great disc of her Études in November last year, and this Sonata is full of the same richness of invention and subversion of convention. There is playful constant flow in the first movement, yet Montgeroult delivers a strangely unexpected end to the development section, and similarly, the lyrically meandering slow movement takes unexpected melodic turns to surprise the ear. Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, but remained in Warsaw during World War II, composing and organising secret concerts. Her Scherzo is playful and full of dancing, cascading scales, set against a neoclassical lumbering circus procession. From the late 20^th century come two works, firstly Chinese composer Chen Yi (b.1953), who emigrated to the US in 1986. Her Guessing from 1989 employs an impressive array of techniques, with thundering crashes, challenging rhythms, dark chords and clusters, and slow octave melodies, all coherently shaped here with playful energy from Cahill. Next to Azerbaijan, and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh’s (b.1947) Music for Piano, with its mysterious modal melody and metallic rattling, produced by a glass-bead necklace stretched across the piano strings, evoking the sound of the tar, a traditional stringed instrument. The effect is fascinating, and she also uses the very low registers, beyond the glass beads, to provide ominous, even threatening contrast. Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) wrote Quintuplets Play Pen: Homage to Ruth Crawford for Cahill in 2001, and its mathematically constructed matrix combining a slow moving bass line with a skipping melodic line and almost chanting middle voice move from being childlike in simplicity to becoming increasingly complex. Hannah Kendall’s (b.1984) three movement On the Chequer’d Field Array’d evokes the three stages of a chess game, from the insistent motion of the initial striding out of pieces, through battling clashes and then more rhapsodic exploration of the extremes of the keyboard, to final subdued acceptance in the outcome. Cahill again brings a sense of coherence and atmosphere to both Oliveros and Kendall’s seemingly cerebral yet highly individual compositions. Iranian composer Aida Shirazi’s (b.1987) Albumblatt uses glassy string scrapes and ethereal harmonics created by touching the strings at the same time as depressing the keys. The resulting effects are captivating, with low rumbling strings and insistent rocking between notes and chords evoking storm clouds and turbulence – the work’s subtitle is A Winter Memory. Cahill closes with a warm, jazz-infused set of Piano Poems by Chicago-based composer Regina Harris Baiocchi (b.1956). From folksy simplicity in the opening ‘common things surprise us’ to off-kilter rhythms in ‘cockleburs in wooly hair’ and turbulence, even anger in ‘beatitudes’, the set ends with relaxed flickering and singing lines in ‘a candle burns time’. As with the previous volumes, Cahill impresses with her range of performances here, as well as in her choice of fascinating repertoire. The only disappointment is that this is the last of this three-volume project – a follow-up is definitely needed!

Various. 2023. The Future is Female. Vol. 3 At Play. Sarah Cahill. Compact Disc. First Hand Records. FHR133.

 

Violinist Lisa Archontidi-Tsaldaraki is joined by pianist Panayotis Archontides (one half of the Ivory Duo Piano Ensemble) for Rhapsody, their selection of 20^th Century violin masterpieces. Ravel’s popular Tzigane, Karol Szymanoski’s (1882-1937) Nocturne and Tarantella, Op. 28, and Britten’s early Suite, Op. 6 form the latter half of the disc. But it is the two works that come first that are the most revelatory here, both by Greek composers most likely lesser known to most in the UK. Yannis Constantinidis (1903-1984) left his homeland in 1922 and ending up in Berlin, but returned to Greece for good in 1931. He was a composer, pianist and conductor, and also composed in popular genres (film music, musical theatre, etc.) under the alias of Kostas Giannidis. In his Petite Suite sur des airs populaires grecs du Dodécanèse there is immediately a sense of longing and sweet nostalgia in the opening Air de Karpathos, and Archontidi-Tsaldaraki brings a rich tone to this cry for lost love. There are dancing, perky rhythms in the Chant Pastoral de Kalymnos, and a darker mood surrounds a contrasting faster central section in the Chant et Danse de Rhodes. The Danse de Leros has a light swing, then heartfelt longing returns in the Air d’Archangelos, with rich lower string work and sweet singing from Archontidi-Tsaldaraki. The final Chant Nuptial et Danse is gentle and lilting to begin with, but progresses into a wild dance with virtuosic double-stopping and high harmonics echoing the melody. Manolis Kalomiris (1883-1962) trained in Vienna, where Wagner was a key influence, then taught piano in Ukraine, where he discovered Russian nationalism, and on his return to Athens, he set out to establish an equivalent Greek National School of Music. His Sonata for Violin and Piano is a substantial work, with cyclical use of material throughout its three movements. The 5/8 metre opening movement is full of uneasy, agitated motion and pulsing rhythms, with surging waves from the piano, and sliding chromatic harmonies drive to an emphatic conclusion. The second movement’s 7/8 metre means that its lyrical melodies quickly take on a more playful nature, and despite its darker diminished intervals it has lively energy throughout, with gossamer high notes from the violin to finish. The Vivo finale relentlessly twists and turns, with galloping rhythms, and apart from a sweet lyrical episode from the violin over gentle piano arpeggios, the movement drives to the finish line. Archontidi-Tsaldaraki and Archontides give a strong performance here of this weighty yet richly inventive Sonata. Britten’s Suite provides a great contrast to both of these richly textured works. Immediately Archontidi-Tsaldaraki establishes this with the dramatic, angular and sustained solo violin opening. A pecking, lumbering March follows with challenging harmonics sounding almost like a breathy flute over the dancing piano part. The instruments take it in turns in the Moto Perpetuo third movement, with rapid motion over low, quiet piano pecks, and then pizzicato from the violin as the piano takes over. The Lullaby in contrast has slow sustained lines for the violin, searing at the climax, making tuning hard to centre in places, although Archontidi-Tsaldaraki maintains this well. Some delightfully watery playing from Archontides over the droning violin double-stops takes the movement towards its eery conclusion. Prokofiev’s influence is most evident in the stomping Waltz that ends the work, with drunken, spiky spiccato and surging double-stops, which could perhaps take a little more abandon, although Archontidi-Tsaldaraki delivers this virtuosic finale with confidence. She also shines in the dramatic, cadenza-like opening of the Ravel, with expressive hints of the rhythms to come, and the swirling wild race to the finish is impressive. Szymanowski’s Nocturne is suitably mysterious and dark, and the Tarantella’s crashing wild opening is followed by a virtuosic display full of drive and energy to finish. A strong debut disc from Archontidi-Tsaldaraki, encouraging more exploration of Constantinidis and Kalomiris.  

Various. 2023. Rhapsody. 20th Century Violin Masterpieces. Lisa Archontidi-Tsaldaraki, Panayotis Archontides. Compact Disc. Convivium Records. CR080.