Though I am recommending this disc – for the playing is exciting and invigorating, and the idea of combining these pieces in one place is a very perceptive one – there is one issue that I think needs to be corrected. What the excellent Belli Piano Duo has done is to mix and match these two works. In other words, we get the first movement of George Crumb’s forth book of “Cosmic Dances for amplified piano, four hands”, subtitled “Alpha Centauri”, first on the program. But then, a split occurs and we are given the first half of Stravinsky’s seminal Rite of Spring. Then come the next two movements of Makrokosmos IV, followed by the second half of Rite, and ending with the last movement of Crumb.
I don’t like it.
It’s not that it doesn’t work as a concept, or that the juxtaposition of the two proves false—it doesn’t. In fact, it is rather remarkable to detect the similarities in tone of the two pieces, written 66 years apart. Crumb’s opus actually moves back towards a more tonal orientation than some of the earlier Makrokosmos books, and so the comparisons are even more startling, and the fact that this is the only four-hands book of the set makes the contrast with Stravinsky’s own four-hand arrangement (first performed with Claude Debussy in 1912) more of a difference of style than of ultimate substance.
But for a recording, which is different than a concert experience, repeated hearings become the crux of the issue, and I know for a fact that I am going to want to hear each of these works in toto rather than truncated and merged with the other work. I know, I can always program it differently, but I don’t want the hassle; I would rather have had it suggested to me in the notes that it would be an interesting thing to program the pieces as they are on this disc, and leave the normal progression of events engraved in silver.
As for the playing itself, impeccable. Crisp, articulate attacks, nicely rendered balancing of harmonies, and an illuminating clarity are the hallmarks of these performances. Stravinsky’s opus is well known, though I dare say that listeners who do not know this arrangement will be struck by some of the often diluted lines coming to the fore. Stravinsky conceived all of his music at the piano, so that is not surprising. Crumb’s music requires a variety of touches and dynamics to fully render his always-astonishing sound world, and the Duo Belli meets the challenge.
The sound is close up though realistically presented, and I enjoyed the disc—this time. Recommended with the above caveats.
— Steven Ritter
