Classical music lovers and listeners searching for background music with an intellectual edge will appreciate Palimpsest, pianist Rob Hao’s first full-length album. Hao has programmed pieces that mostly evoke a calm, reflective mood by Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Alison Kay, Michael Finnissy, and himself. Schubert is a focal point, as listeners get to hear him through different perspectives: Schubert’s Impromptu Op. 142 No. 2 and unfinished Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, Hao’s ending to that sonata, and Liszt’s piano transcription of Der Müller und der Bach. Although the lack of strong contrasts in the two Schubert pieces might bore listeners, Hao emphasizes shifts in texture with meticulous shaping of lines and individual notes. For example, in the unfinished sonata, legato melodies give way to slightly detached notes in the contrapuntal passages. Hao’s Palimpsest is a creative highlight on the album that follows the abruptly unfinished end of the Schubert sonata. An astonishingly smooth transition catapults the listener into a stimulating chaos, where fragments and shadows of Schubert’s unfinished piece swirl as though caught in a whirlwind. Repeated melodic figurations and pitch collections help ground the flurry of notes. The composition Palimpsest 571 is creative and energetic, bringing a classic composer into the frenetic energies of our own time.

On all tracks, Hao’s accurate execution of local details allows him to build up nice contrasts at larger scales, such as the breathtaking moves from dark drama to floating, light tones in Liszt’s version of Der Müller und der Bach. Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 62 No. 1 shines, as brooding moments quickly recede back into the dominant lullaby ethos. Hao highlights the dual qualities of dreaminess and intellectual sophistication embedded in the piece. Turning to the contemporary English composers on the album, “Orison II” from Alison Kay’s Piano Etudes is reminiscent of the sparse, crystalline sound world of Pärt’s Für Alina, while her “Lullaby for Isabella” rides on chromatic lines that seem to twist rapidly upwards. Hao selects from Finnissy’s avant-garde, atonal English Country Tunes to create a contrasting triptych; Nos. 2 and 7 from the set prove that Hao can handle high technical and interpretive difficulty. He labors admirably to draw out the gestures that are at the heart of No. 2 so that listeners do not get lost in the flurry of notes. Conscientious recording and production techniques capture the nuances and fine details of the interpretations that Hao has worked so diligently to create.