CRI - USA

Harrison was from a later generation yet - he was born in 1917. Harrison studied with Cowell in the mid-1930s, and quickly became interested in his mentor's mentor. Ives was delighted with Harrison's zeal, which reached a climax in 1946, when Harrison conducted the long-delayed premiere of Ives's Third Symphony, a work that subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize. Unlike Ives and Cowell, Harrison has not written extensively for the piano, although he was a formidable performer on this instrument from early on.

Unsurprisingly, several premiere recordings are claimed on this disc, all of music by Harrison. These include his Third Piano Sonata, a Prelude for Grandpiano [sic] (to Henry Cowell), Homage to Milhaud, Largo Ostinato, and a Saraband. These works were written in 1937-38, with the exception of the 36-second Homage to Milhaud, which was written in 1948.

On the other hand, most of Cowell's major piano works are here, including the famous Aeolian Harp (1923) and The Banshee (1925). Here, the pianist is required to strum the piano's strings with his fingers. In the latter work, a keening, screaming effect is created, as befits the subject. Cowell's music ranges from the quiet and poetic (Aeolian Harp) to the brutality of Tiger (1928) and the breakthrough Dynamic Motion (1916), which both make liberal use of cluster chords.

De Mare triumphs in a long and demanding program; he even sings in a piece by Harrison called May Rain. Undoubtedly his technique and interpretations are impressive, but even more impressive is the program itself, and the intellect that assembled it. The excellent annotations are by Bob Gilmore, and the engineering - not overly bright - is by Judith Sherman.

Kievman was born in 1949 and received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in 1977. He's spent most of his time in Germany and in the United States, and his music has been used by dance companies and in museums, as well as in the more traditional theaters and concert halls. Recently, Kievman was granted a Naumberg Fellowship to Princeton University. He's been around and received some acclaim, yet I believe that this is only the second all-Kievman CD to become available.

This disc's overall title is The Temporary & Tentative Extended Piano, which is the earliest work here, and the last on the CD. It is a kind of mad music theater; one performing version of this piece requires a page-turning "Butler" and several other "Servants," and the pianist sits on a spring-supported platform where he also has access to cowbells. The work ends with the performer collapsing in exhaustion. It is in this format that the work was performed for Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, and page 3 of CRI's booklet has the photograph to prove it. The work starts like Messiaen (a Kievman mentor) and becomes progressively more disheveled, as an angry shout from the pianist further suggests! 

The other substantial piece on this CD is Meditation, which was begun in 1992 and completed in 1998. It is in two sections and is 24 minutes long. The booklet describes the first section as "a descent into Hades in slow motion," and Kievman requests very slow tempos from the pianist. The juxtaposition of very loud and very soft chords (with many pregnant pauses in between) creates a frozen or marmoreal effect. Kievman reinforces this effect with nature noises -- thunder, rain, cicadas -- another mysterious choice, but again, one that is moving rather than New Agey. Later, the music takes on a nostalgic -- but not sweet! -- quality. Bells toll again, both in the piano and apart from it. It's reminiscent of Arvo Pärt's music at its most hypnotic and personal. The other four works on this CD complement the two featured pieces. All except Harpo (1986, the composer's return to composing after a three-year hiatus) were written in the 1990s. The booklet aptly describes Toccatada as "an almost dadistic toccata...in the spirit of Nancarrow playing Prokofiev playing Bach." The tempo is "as fast as possible."

David Arden, a true hero to composers of modern keyboard music, makes Kievman's quirky creations viable. The engineers have gifted Arden and Kievman with good sound. This unusual CD is well worth your exploration.

Brittens Music Eastbourne