Yoshiko Shimizu (piano)
Kairos 0022012KAI 69:42 mins
Among some ill-advised tech breakthroughs in music – a singing hologram of Maria Callas; an AI-imagined Beatles song, to name a couple – Yoshiko Shimizu’s ‘solo’ recording of George Crumb’s works for two pianists is a remarkable achievement. Given that the composer considered Shimizu, with whom he worked directly over several decades, to be one of the finest interpreters of his music, the pianist finds herself suitably matched.
The Bartók-inspired opening movement of Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) is hewn with a diamond-cutter’s precision; each facade glints and winks. Crumb employs increasingly complex techniques throughout the four movements, creating overtones by muting strings in ‘Beta Cygni’, dropping metal rulers with cork strips glued to one side into the piano guts for ‘Gamma Draconis’,
and combining the damper pedal with plucked strings in the final ‘Delta Orionis’.
The latter two movements are actually for six hands: in a nod to Charles Ives, Crumb includes a part for page-turning pianist, bringing to life all non-performing musicians’ nightmares about the perils of helping as a stage hand. Shimizu blends the varied timbres effortlessly – there’s no indication of the pianistic acrobatics required from a score that involves the interior of the instrument as much as the keyboard.
Few composers have integrated extended techniques into their harmonic language as neatly as Crumb; whether it’s the partial tones in Zeitgeist’s ‘Monochord’ (delightfully depicted in a circular score, incidentally) or the cluster chords in Otherworldly Resonances, nothing jars. Crumb’s own programme notes are provided for each work, with additional comment by Shimizu, who contextualises pieces with quotes from Crumb’s letters and insight into techniques. Sadly, though, these don’t include the recording method.