Blackwood, Easley: Radical Piano

Michael Nyman came of age as a classical composer in the radical London of the late '60s. His work embraces multiple vernaculars (jazz, avant garde, conceptual art) and helped cement the foundation of what came to be known as minimalism. Decades into his career, Nyman's score to Jane Campion's film The Piano made him a star. The movie's themes of colonialism and silence (its protagonist, portrayed by Holly Hunter, cannot speak) were perfectly aligned with his longtime interests in world and ambient music. Horn players assist members of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in fleshing out Nyman's stately, hymn-like motifs. On the more heavily orchestrated cues, sentimentality wins out over minimalist restraint; the best tracks feature Nyman on solo piano, playing the rudimentary, faux period repertoire of Hunter's character.

First release of chamber works by the British composer, Rutland Boughton (1878-1960), performed by the renowned English Piano Trio.

Although Schumann was one of the composers Sviatoslav Richter played best, this is not the most essential disc of this series. This Moscow recording of the six pieces from Op. 12 (Richter always played the same six, leaving out two of the set) is no better or worse than the Prague recordings made at the same time and now available from Deutsche Grammophon. In either case, you do want to hear Richter play these pieces, especially the miraculous speed and clarity of Traumes-Wirren. Richter gave the most convincing performance of the radical Humoreske ever, but his concert recording is even more exciting than this fine studio version.