Nicolas Hodges reviews
A Bag of Bagatelles (Beethoven & Birtwistle)
Nicolas Hodges (piano) (Wergo)
Saariaho: Tocar; Cloud Trio; Light and Matter; Aure; Graal théâtre
Jennifer Koh, Hsin-Yun Huang, Wilhelmina Smith, Anssi Karttunen, Nicolas Hodges; Curtis 20/21 Ensemble/Conner Gray Covington (Cédille)
Birtwistle: The Axe Manual, Harrison's Clocks, Oockooing Bird
Compared with some of his peers –
Ligeti, Stockhausen, Boulez –
Birtwistle has written relatively little
for the piano. But by including the
punningly titled The Axe Manual,
the piece for piano and percussion
written for Emanuel Ax and
Evelyn Glennie in 2000, as well as
the teenage (yet already typically
melancholic) Oockooing Bird and the
1960 Webern-esque miniature Précis,
and rounding up six occasional and
birthday pieces, there is enough for
Nicolas Hodges to fill a CD decently.
Ligeti, Stockhausen, Boulez –
Birtwistle has written relatively little
for the piano. But by including the
punningly titled The Axe Manual,
the piece for piano and percussion
written for Emanuel Ax and
Evelyn Glennie in 2000, as well as
the teenage (yet already typically
melancholic) Oockooing Bird and the
1960 Webern-esque miniature Précis,
and rounding up six occasional and
birthday pieces, there is enough for
Nicolas Hodges to fill a CD decently.