Review by steviev September 18, 2009 (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
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There are two sizeable works on this disc. "Plateaux" is a 38-minute, nine-movement piece for piano and orchestra. "For Piano" is a three-movement, 21-minute work for solo piano.
“Plateaux” is your classic anti-concerto. Those looking for a two-fisted virtuoso fingerbuster should read no further, because the piano here mostly mutters, quivers, and pounds.
Plateaux contrasts three moods. It begins with raw, aggressive music harking back to Stravinsky’s Le Sacre and Les Noces. Then the mood becomes “simple”: timid, stuttering piano with diffident commentary by the orchestra. Lastly, “murmure”: the piano murmurs shyly to herself while the orchestra responds with desultory psychedelic bursts of color.
The work culminates in a literal “Composition” which primarily develops the murmuring music. Develop is not quite the word -- it luxuriates, frolics, exults in the music. For once, the piano writing becomes idiomatic. After Composition, Mr. Holmgreen appends an epilog movement based on a trite tune by Mozart, again accompanied by beautiful and desultory orchestral sound bursts. This repetitive coda acts like brainwash, virtually wiping away one’s memory of the previous movements. Very strange.
Plateaux was deeply synaesthetic for me -- with eyes closed, my listening room became a shimmering field of ever-shifting colors. Holmgreen has found an ideal balance between raw fury, murky diffidence, and blinding beauty. This music is haunting and addictive.
“For Piano” is of a lower order. It's mostly uninspired piano noodling, and I have little patience for music that I could have easily improvised myself. Also, for such an intimate piece, I think dacapo should have recorded the piano more closely. Instead, we are given the same middle-hall perspective for this work as for Plateaux. I won’t spend any more time discussing this piece because I have no sympathy for it.
Performance of Plateaux is gorgeous. The resonant Danish Radio Concert Hall flatters Holmgreen’s distinctive orchestration. Piano/orchestra balance is natural, and the pianist does fine with his ungratifying part. Adventurous listeners who don't require conventional symphonic development and dramaturgy will enjoy Plateaux.
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