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Fanfare

In the July/Aug 2021 issue of Fanfare I reviewed Volume 1 of English composer Eric Craven’s Pieces for Pianists (Metier), featuring Mary Dullea. At the conclusion of my review, I wrote: “an engaging, captivating, and charming experience from start to finish…. A fine recording, one that makes me look forward to hearing Volume 2.” Thanks to Metier, and our publisher, my wait is over, and I have been rewarded with another stimulating and pleasurable experience. Each of the Volumes of Craven’s Pieces for Pianists (2017-19) comprises 25 brief works. And each of the Volumes manifests Craven’s “Non-Prescriptive” method of composition and notation.

In my prior review, I offered the following description: “Craven’s ‘Non-Prescriptive’ mode of composition embraces three levels. First is a ‘Lower Order,’ in which ‘pitch, rhythm and duration of the notes are given. The performer decides upon such omitted parameters as tempo, dynamics, phrasing, pedaling and the articulation of the notes.’ ‘Middle Order’ components are ‘short fragments of data which can be presented in LO or HO systems of notation.’ The final component, ‘Higher Order Non-Prescription is achieved by stripping away all parameters except pitch.’ (All quotes are from the composer’s website: ericcravencomposer.wordpress.com/introduction) In short, Craven’s ‘Non-Prescriptive’ technique affords performing artists a remarkably broad latitude in interpreting and realizing the music in the printed score.” And so, on the cover of each of the Metier releases, Mary Dullea is credited as having “performed and realised” Craven’s music. In her “An Appreciation,” featured in the CD booklet, Dullea characterizes the Pieces for Pianists as “open-ended, non-hierarchical, inclusive and, commensurate with his approaches to non-prescriptive notation. It presents simply that – pieces to be played on the piano.”

The 25 Pieces on Volume 2 (as performed and realized by Dullea) range in length from 0:54 to 3:37. Craven intends the music for performance by pianists with a wide range of experience and technical ability. It’s not surprising that his writing tends to favor textures that are lean and transparent. I found the works in Volume 1 “generally [to] favor a more intimate and reflective mode of expression.” While that description also applies to Volume 2, there is also a more extroverted and mercurial character in some of those Pieces. As in Volume 1,I find an affinity between Craven’s writing and the piano works of Satie, Debussy, and Ravel.

In his thorough and informative liner notes, Michael Quinn acknowledges Craven “courting the poetic eloquence and atmospheric elegance of earlier French Impressionists,” albeit “at several steps removed.” Quinn also finds “allegiances to Craven’s coeval and like-minded contemporaries such as Howard Skempton, Arvo Pärt and La Monte Young.” Of course, Craven’s “Non-Prescriptive” compositional method invites the keyboard interpreter to pursue a re-creative, improvisational approach embraced by the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, and jazz artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. And there is more than a hint of jazz in several of Craven’s pieces.

Once again, I found Craven’s music admirably varied in mood and color, and thoroughly engaging throughout. Dullea continues her persuasive advocacy, playing with tonal beauty, textural clarity, and characterful phrasing. The recording provides a lovely, realistic, and intimate acoustic. Given the disc’s total playing time of under 61 minutes, I would have welcomed Dullea offering alternate realizations of some of the Pieces, as illustrations of how different they might sound while still remaining true to Craven’s “open-ended” vision. But that desire hardly stood in the way of my enjoyment of this recording. Pieces for Pianists Volume II offers a wealth of intriguing, stimulating, and inspired music making, both by Craven and Dullea. Recommended.