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International Piano

Resonating Earth’ is a multi-media project developed by Carolyn Enger along with video and visual artists to raise awareness of the climate crisis. This recording presents some of the music used as part of the project, and away from any visual stimulus it amounts to a thoughtful programme of contemporary piano music. The first piece is Meredith Monk’s irresistible Quarry Waltz, which is followed by a hauntingly remote piece by Marcos Balter entitled I.v., written for a Beethoven celebration in 2013 and marked to be played ‘like a distant memory’. Nico Muhly’s hymn-like Lilt (from a collection of 14 études) contrasts with the more adventurous sound world of Wolfgang Rihm’s Auf einem anderen Blatt, written to celebrate Pierre Boulez’s 75th birthday.

Missy Mazzoli’s Orizzonte for piano and electronics is quietly enthralling. There are two pieces by John Cage: In a Landscape and Dream, both originally written in 1948 to accompany dance performances. John Luther Adams’s Nunataks evokes icy peaks and glaciers with striking effectiveness, and Enger follows this with the quiet simplicity of Philip Glasss Etude No 2. Theres stillness of a more monumental kind in Iman Habibi’s In the brittle quietude. Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Gray – also included on Isabel Dobarros recital (see above) – receives another good performance here. Two pieces by Sean Hickey have ambitious aspirations (one commemorates 9/11) and undoubted sincerity, and this recital ends with another short gem from Meredith Monk: Ellis Island.