Valentin Silvestrov’s output of piano miniatures during 2003 17 has often been remarked on while being easily misunderstood. Begun seemingly as a distraction from large-scale works, it has resulted in some 30 hours of music and consists of several dozen cycles that comprise between two and 10 pieces. Silvestrov then organised these into ‘meta-cycles’, each of them lasting in excess of an hour, such as are intended to be performed as an unbroken continuity. This, along with the extremely detailed markings of expression and dynamics, makes for an experience wholly removed (whether in concept or execution) from the easy- or background-listening collections which have mushroomed across recent decades. Rather, Silvestrov has presented a challenge akin to his extended song-cycles from the 1970s and early ’80s – the aim, in both instances, being to demand attention in the pursuit of a ‘hidden modern-ness’.

Such, at least, is the spirit in which Tomasz Kamieniak (himself a noted composer as well as improvisor) has interpreted this music. The present sequence is of eight (non-chronological) cycles of 27 pieces, duly performed with resonant pauses but no actual breaks that might tempt the listener into taking a break or even losing focus before it runs its course. Such an approach differs from that of previous such collections by Elisaveta Blumina (Grand Piano) or Jenny Lin (Hänssler, A/07) in amounting to an integral entity: what the composer terms ‘symphonies of moments’, played out on a grand scale. The spectrum of piano literature is referenced, thus making Silvestrov’s endeavour as inclusive as it is extensive. Kamieniak is an enlightening guide, and one looks forward to future instalments in a project like no other.