Afield

Pierre Boulez - Notations & Piano Sonatas - Pi-hsien Chen (2005) {hat[now]ART 162}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 236 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 180 Mb
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© 2005 HAT HUT Records | hat[now]ART 162
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Post Modern / Piano Solo

Chen's survey of Boulez's piano music (bar the little competition piece Incises) invites comparisons with Paavali Jumppanen's accounts of the three sonatas released by Deutsche Grammophon earlier in the year. Both are first rate; Chen's tempi are marginally slower, but her approach is more dramatic - some of the early Notations are positively explosive - while Jumppanen explores Boulez's command of keyboard sonority more fastidiously. Both convey the energy of the young Boulez's piano writing. It's hard to believe the Notations were composed 60 years ago, and the First Sonata, with its strange, intensely French flavour, followed a year later; this music still sounds astonishingly fresh.

25th anniversary reissue of this unique coming together of Brian Eno and ex-Public Image Limited bass player Jah Wobble, also featuring Jaki Liebezeit from Can on drums. Starting life as the soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 'Glitterbug', Eno passed stereo mixes of the film cues to Wobble who embellished and built upon them to construct the 'Spinner' tracks. The resulting fusion combines icy ambience with a kind of psychogeographical funk.