Peter Hill's Messiaen recordings are appearing at a most opportune time. The piano music is one of the cornerstones of Messiaen's output and it is distinctly under-represented in the current UK catalogue. This second volume is more successfully recorded than the first, where lack of immediacy in the sound was my main reservation (DKP9037, 8/85); with two more rarities and the saime fastidious pianism on the new record, this is proving a most rewarding enterprise.
The Fantaisie burlesque is an early piece notable for some curiously Ivesian hints of ragtime and a delightful opening idea worked to death in a repetitious structure. The more compact Rondeau was a Conservatoir test piece—no more than a footnote to Messiaen's output, but still a revealing example of the composer in relaxed mood.
Hill's playing of the Quartre etudes is undoubtedly preferable to the bloodless Takahashi. The Etudes and the substantial Canteyodjaya receive thoughtful, carefully prepared performances which can be listened to with much pleasure. Nevertheless, I feel obliged to elaborate somewhat on a point I made in connection with Hill's Preludes. Even in this more vivid recording there is still a lack of freedom in the range of dynamics and colour—Messiaen really needs firmer tenutos, more brilliant cascades in the treble (the high treble sometimes tapers into virtual inaudibility), more 'clang' in the bell-like chords more drive in toccata sections such as the end of ''Ile de feu II''.
A curious point about the famous ''Mode de valeurs'' study is that for all its proto-Boulezian determinism the tempo is not metronomically fixed. Peter Hill's Modere comes out at 5' 50'' in all, Takahashi takes 4' 37'', and Paul Jacobs (Nonesuch H71334, 3/77—nla) a mere 3' 14''. Put side by side Hill sounds more pointillist, Jacobs more flowing (and a little more accurate in rhythm); but I would not like to guess which is closer to the composer's intentions. Interestingly, Hill takes the similar Modere sections in Canteyodjaya a lot faster—to excellent effect. It is good to have this impressive work available again, and here, as throughout the record, the trombone-like bass of the Bosendorfer Imperial is heard to impressive effect.'