Sonic Alchemy

Albumbeschreibung

One might not think of mentioning Mozart in the same breath with minimalist composers Arvo Pärt and Pēteris Vasks, but this program by the trio of violinist YuEun Kim, pianist Mina Gajić, and cellist Coleman Itzkoff reminds the listener that the comparison was suggested by Pärt himself in his fascinating Mozart-Adagio, an elaboration on the slow movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata in F major, K. 280. That work, the only one in which the full trio is heard, is performed on the central track of this Sono Luminus release, and the rest of the program has an almost-arch shape, with works by Vasks and Pärt at the beginning and end, and Mozart's two well-known minor-key fantasias surrounding the Mozart-Pärt piece. The notes by composer Páll Ragnar Pálsson attempt to connect the program to the idea of the passage of time, and listeners can judge the success of this for themselves. Whatever one's conclusion, the music hangs in one's mind. Mozart's way of expanding harmonic fields in his works is an essential feature of his style. Think of the scene in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus where Salieri marvels at how much he can extract from a single note in the Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major, K. 364. The concept is aided by the iron rhythmic control of the players, especially Kim; sample the final Spiegel im Spiegel of Pärt, which has the unrelieved tension essential to a good Pärt performance. The Sono Luminus label contributes characteristically pristine sound. Put this album on late in a quiet evening, and it will haunt.
© James Manheim /TiVo