{"product_id":"tanaka-crystalline-1","title":"Tanaka: Crystalline","description":"\u003cbr\u003e                    Mention of Japanese composer Karen Tanaka in these pages has                     been very brief, but always complimentary: her string quartet,                     At the Grave of Beethoven, reviewed more than a decade ago,                     and two of her very short piano works featured on this new release,                     Northern Lights and Lavender Field, played by Thalia Myers on                     two anthologies, reviewed  here.                     This appears to be the first CD devoted entirely to her works                     - the nearest thing to date was 'Invisible Curve', a disc of                     chamber music released on New World Records (80683) in 2008,                     which she shared with Chinese composer Chen Yi. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    Crystalline I and II, which open and close this fascinating                     recital respectively, were written a few years apart, the latter                     an obvious follow-up to the first. According to the liner-notes,                     the title reflects the composer's intention to create a \"rendering                     of a cool timeless world of glittering, sparkling crystals.\"                     The style and sonorities of Crystalline I, one of Tanaka's earlier                     works, give a good idea of what to expect from her piano music                     - detail, delicacy, consonance, timbral sculpturing, sensuality.                     \u003cbr\u003e                      \u003cbr\u003e                    The 'prismatic' idea of the Crystallines recurs in the most                     recent of Tanaka's piano pieces, Water Dance - actually a set                     of three dances - which was commissioned by Norwegian pianist                     Signe Bakke herself, who has had a working relationship with                     Tanaka for some time. The 'water' element is not the musically                     archetypal undulation of waves or ebb and flow of tides, but                     more the play of light on the shimmering surface of a clear                     - crystalline, one may say - mountain stream. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    One great service Tanaka renders art music in works like Water                     Dance or the Techno Etudes, is to expose the mountebankery of                     mainstream minimalism. Her music here is a minimalism of sorts,                     but so much more intelligent, more inventive, more profound                     than the piano music of, say, Philip Glass or Ludovico Einaudi,                     or a thousand anonymous Hollywood film scores. Tanaka studied                     at IRCAM with Tristan Murail, famed for his so-called 'spectral'                     music, which clearly had a strong influence on her own stated                     interest in the \"transformation of timbre in space, analogous                     to a gradual change of light refraction in crystals and prisms\".                     \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    A different side of Tanaka's pianism can be heard in the Children                     of Light, a set of simple but exquisite melodic miniatures written                     for children, both to enjoy and play - although one of them                     at least, African Elephant, sounds far from easy! Some of the                     pieces are so instantly, deliciously memorable that listeners                     will be amazed that this is the first time of hearing. As an                     educational bonus to children, there is an overall ecological                     theme - each piece describes the special natural beauty of or                     a threatened species of animal from different parts of the world.                     The eight varied items selected here are from a total of twenty;                     what a pity, on this evidence, that the rest were not recorded                     - there would surely have been enough space on this disc, which,                     though otherwise excellent in every regard, is rather brazenly                     on the short side. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                      There are two pieces in Bakke's recital with the title Northern                     Lights, one from the Children of Light collection, the second                     a stand-alone work commissioned by the Royal School of Music                     with Lavender Field for teaching purposes. The CD booklet gives                     Tanaka's instructions to learners for performing these rhythmic,                     succinct pieces - both of which, incidentally, were recorded                     by Thalia Myers on the CDs linked to above. For Lavender Field,                     for example, the player is told to \"imagine weaving colour                     and scent with sounds. The harmonic series on E flat appears                     and disappears into space at the end.\" \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    In all the above works the pianist must show great finesse and                     sensitivity, a demand which Bakke meets with total reliability.                     In the curiously named Techno Etudes, on the other hand, the                     accent is firmly on virtuosity, particularly rhythmic speed                     - and again Bakke is equal to it. The music was commissioned                     by Japanese pianist Tomoko Mukayama, who originally asked for                     a work to synchronise with some pre-taped 'techno' music. Though                     the techno idea was thankfully dropped, the title stuck, as                     did the emphasis on an almost robotic drive and great velocity.                     This is hypnotic, primal music, and the CD notes argue the case,                     not altogether convincingly, that it expresses at a deep level                     similar ideas to the far more delicate, complex sounds of the                     'crystalline' works. Quite inventively, the notes describe the                     particularly virtuosic first movement as sounding like \"a                     frenetic boogie-woogie machine that sometimes seems to get stuck\".                     \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    The sound quality on this hybrid SACD is immaculate, even listening                     in normal stereo. This is how solo piano music \u003ci\u003eshould\u003c\/i\u003e                     be recorded. The booklet, the back cover of which is glued onto                     the cardboard case, has well-written, detailed notes in English                     and Norwegian. Oddly, Tanaka does not get a mention on the front                     cover or the CD itself. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                      Playing time aside, a superb release. \u003cbr\u003e                    \u003cbr\u003e                    -- Byzantion, MusicWeb International","brand":"2L","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":49735685701912,"sku":"7041888515524","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1826095.jpg?v=1777788705","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/tanaka-crystalline-1","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}