Reimann Complete Piano Works
Reimann’s music is ripe for rediscovery Aribert Reimann is most
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Label: CPO
Magazine Review Date: 3/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: CPO777 236-2
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 3/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: 8 570199
Author: Philip_Clark
Reimann’s output for solo piano has been small, but the four works documented on the first disc show a composer with awesome understanding of the DNA of the piano, especially the unerring “rightness” of his chord voicings and ability to exploit the possibilities of the instrument as a resonant sound-box. The First Sonata was written when Reimann was a student of Boris Blacher in 1958, and is rooted in post-Bergian harmonic principles. If the atonal Viennese-waltz atmosphere of the first movement is derivative, then Reimann proceeds to build confidence by the bar: the lyricism of the second movement shows an instinct for unusual but telling note-choices, and the fleet finale pursues spiky moto perpertuo figures through a labyrinth of taxing metre changes.
Spektren (1967) and Variationien (1979) are the work of a mature master. Both pieces are built around fastidiously voiced clusters, too harmonically methodical to be random blocks but too dense to be mistaken as harmonic function. In Spektren, spectra of colour and rhythm rebound out of clustered fundamentals. In Variationien clusters seed harmonic and pitch material that Reimann opens up into a dynamic, searching dialectical journey.
The Naxos disc contains three Paul Celan settings given sympathetic readings by baritone Yaron Windmüller. Reimann’s rule of thumb seems to be that less is more, and his terse orchestral settings and understated melodic writing allow Celan’s poetry the dignity of speaking for itself. The final piece, for voice and piano, combines starkly resonant piano sounds with dramatically astute vocal writing. What Reimann does best.
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