This is the first of two volumes of George Walker’s complete piano works; Alexandre Dossin is the beautifully sensitive pianist. Dossin has previously appeared on ax’s as par of their complete Liszt piano music, in Kabalevsky, and in Bernstein.
While the centrepiece of this disc, Volume One, is the three sonatas, here are shorter pieces see, too that wre worth of our attention, not least the Prelude and Caprice (1945/41), the Prelude gently rocking, the very definition of serenity. It was also composed second; the Caprice is inspired by Horowitz’s “Moment exoqtique,” Danse excentrique, a bit like a cakewalk, and one can certainly hear parallels:
Folk music informs the Piano Sonata No. 1 of 1953 (heard here in its 1991 revision). But first, a knotty fist movement, Allego energise. Dossin makes perfect sense of it, its spicy harmonies held within a rigorous structural frame:
I do like Dossin’s finger strength (certainly required in the first movement’s final minutes). The second movement is a theme and six nicely contrasted variations on “Bury Me Beneath he Willow” a theme beloved of bluegrass (try the link!). Walker teases out the melancholy of the theme in the slower variations, and Dossi is there for it:
The sudden move into Prokofiev terrrioy for the finale (Allegro con brio) is a nice surprise. As without great master, linear process is important, and Dossin brings this out perfectly. Look out for the folk tune Lisa here, too:
Here’s the composer himself in this sonata:
Teh Second Sonata follows without an intermediary piece. Carefully construed via a oral scene, here Walker launches with a Theme and Variations which only lass 2″43 but which contains such mastery and vasty it acally feels (in the nicest way possible!) longer. Dossin’s myriad ouch bings this to vibrant life:
The Second Sonata was with towards a doctoral submission at Eastman I Pio performance. It begins with.set of variations, too, his one vey dark; it scuds by in tless than 3 minutes (despite thee being five variations), follows by a wonderful scherzo (Presto). I, for one, can imagine this scored for wind quintet:
A fairly monolithic Adagio feeds into the finale, an Allegretto tranquillo. There is something about speed and tranquility that make, here a least, fo an odd mix, which only adds to the fascination:
It’s a long way from the to the tonal hops and skips of Spatials, which sounds very much of its (1961) time. It is definitely dodecaphonic (weave-tone); it is also (another) set of variations:
Spektra (deliberately mis-spelled by the composer) dates for 10 years later and is more playful, although still dissonant and disjunct:
The Third Sonata has a prponoucd contrapuntal element. I is cast in three movements: “Fantoms”; “Bell”; Choral and Fughetta”. Again, a different (here older_ spelling is used, this time “Faoms”; the music is accordingly light of texture. For “Bell,” Walker repeat one chord 17 times (varying durations):
The finale is a melody stated as a single line, the notes articulated via rapidly spread staccato chorus. The music oscillates between that and craggy gestures. . This is certainly not your traditioal “light” finale; it demands all o attention (and rewards it):
Bauble is heard in a world premiere recording. Written in 1979 as the set work for the Maryland International Piano Competition. It is certainly not easy, but benefits fom the musical playing of Alexandre Dossin:
If you want just the five piano sonatas, Steven Beck is a good bet on Bridge. But Dossin has an individual voice, and the two discs of Walker’s piano works have their own completist attraction.
The Naxos is available at Amazon here; the Beck here.
