Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Solace with Risto-Matti Marin

Transcript

Solace with Risto-Matti Marin · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:00
  This is Jed Distler, and I welcome you to the Piano Maven.
• 0:13
  This is a friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:17
  This is our 22nd episode.
• 0:20
  The Finnish pianist Risto Matimarin has made something of a reputation for his many CD
• 0:28
  releases featuring virtuoso transcriptions such as piano arrangements of music from Wagner's
• 0:36
  operas, transcriptions of Horowitz and Ignaz Friedman, the transcriptions by August Stradall
• 0:44
  of Franz Liszt's tone poems.
• 0:47
  However, Risto Matimarin's latest release, that is entitled Solas, offers something far
• 0:56
  more intimate and personal than anything I think he's recorded before, and I think it
• 1:01
  really makes a statement.
• 1:03
  The centerpiece of this disc is a nearly 40-minute work entitled Solas by the Canadian-Finnish
• 1:12
  composer Matthew Whittall, and it's heard here in its world premiere recording.
• 1:18
  On one level, it's a sparse, minimalist kind of piece where you have slowly moving single
• 1:25
  notes and dyads, and at such a deliberate pace, each pitch really, really counts for
• 1:34
  a lot.
• 1:36
  There are passages and slow moving chords.
• 1:40
  There also are intense rumbles in the bass register, but the care with which Matthew
• 1:47
  Whittall chooses notes and the care with which he assembles and sequences these notes is
• 1:56
  totally matched by Risto Matimarin's hauntingly nuanced pianism, and he seems to have pondered
• 2:05
  every dynamic, every shading, every voicing, really everything that he touches.
• 2:12
  But he also brings mesmerizing continuity and shape, and I think his playing proves
• 2:19
  just as hypnotic as the composition is.
• 2:23
  There's also a waltz by Matthew Whittall on the disc that might remind you of Eric
• 2:29
  Satie, and the music just seems to stop in midair with a question mark.
• 2:36
  Risto Matimarin opens this disc with equally sensitive performances of the Volstricht
• 2:43
  by Sibelius, the first of the Op. 10 Ballads by Brahms, and following Solas, he plays
• 2:52
  the first intermezzo from the Brahms Intermezzo Op. 117.
• 2:57
  He plays the one in E-flat.
• 3:00
  This release is on the Refrain Records label, and the beautiful recorded sound does full
• 3:08
  justice not only to Risto Matimarin's pianism, but to the sensitivity and artistic depth
• 3:17
  that he projects in really every note.
• 3:21
  There is a link to this release in my podcast description, and I highly recommend that you
• 3:27
  check Solas out.
• 3:29
  You will not regret it.
• 3:31
  This is Jed Dissler, and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
• 3:37
  guide to piano recordings.
• 3:39
  I look forward to you and I being together for the next episode and all episodes to follow.
• 3:45
  Please spread the good word about this podcast.
• 3:49
  By the way, I also want to mention that I am the artistic director for the Salon Concerts
• 3:56
  at Clavier House Recital Series in New York City that takes place mostly every Sunday
• 4:03
  afternoon at 2 p.m., both in person and via high definition, high resolution live streams.
• 4:13
  For concert information, visit salon.clavierhouse.com.
• 4:19
  You spell Clavier House K-L-A-V-I-E-R-H-A-U-S.
• 4:27
  And I also invite you to listen to my long running weekly radio show Between the Keys
• 4:34
  on the Classical Network and WWFM.org every Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern Time with
• 4:43
  the rebroadcast on Saturdays at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
• 4:48
  And you also can check out webcasts of earlier episodes by visiting WWFM.org.
• 4:54
  Again, I thank you for listening to the Piano Maven and until next time, take care and stay
• 5:02
  safe.