George Benjamin (b. 1960)
Complete Piano Works
Erik Bertsch (piano)
rec. 2023, Sala Musica, Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, Poirino, Torino, Italy
Piano Classics PCL 10287 [2 CDs: 90]
George Benjamin made his name when, at the age of twenty, his orchestral work Ringed by the Flat Horizon was given its premiere at the Proms. He followed this up with a series of orchestral works which, like those of his friend and older contemporary Oliver Knussen, are like jewels: they dazzle and are meticulously scored. More recently he has written successful operas: Into the Little Hill, Written on Skin, Lessons in Love and Violence and Picture a Day like This. Along with Thomas Adès, he is now the most successful contemporary British composer of operas, with several productions of these works and recordings of all of them. The Nimbus label deserve our thanks for this and for a number of other recordings of Benjamin’s works.
Benjamin has written comparatively little for the piano, and this two disc set contains all that there is so far. He has written for the instrument in two bursts, one right at the beginning of his career in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another about twenty years later. Here we have them, not in chronological order, but with earlier and later works interspersed. His idiom has remained quite consistent, and shows the influence of Messiaen, who was one of his teachers, but from the beginning he has been his own man, with a piano idiom which also owes something to Bartók.
I shall discuss the pieces in the order in which they are presented. Sortilèges – which means spells – is a set of two pieces, of which the first is reminiscent of the more aggressive numbers in Messiaen’s Vingt Regards, specifically Par Lui tout a été fait and Noël. The second alternates blocks of material which are respectively gentle and lively.
Piano Figures, which is currently Benjamin’s most recent piano work, though it is now twenty years old, is a set of ten short pieces intended for young players. It is a welcome contribution by a contemporary composer to the repertoire of works accessible to young musicians and amateurs. I think of Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces as a comparable set. They are nicely varied and not at all restricted in emotional range: some are clangorous and wild, while one or two others are brooding and mysterious.
Olicantus was a tribute to Oliver Knussen, who turned fifty that year, and who was known to his friends as Ollie. It is a gentle and sensitive homage, which Benjamin later arranged for a chamber ensemble, and which has also been recorded in that form.
The Three Studies are of unequal length, with the first, at over twelve minutes, being much the longest. This first one, Fantasy on Iambic Rhythm, I found rather long and meandering. The second, Meditation on Haydn’s Name, is a contemplative work which dissolves away at the end. The final study, Relativity Rag, is a kind of cubist version of a piano rag, rather in the spirit of Stravinsky’s jazz-influenced works.
Shadowlines – Six Canonic Preludes is a suite which makes up a single work. There is a plaintive prologue and, at the end, an epilogue with rather Schoenbergian lyricism. Between these there are four remarkably varied and ingenious canons using all sorts of polyphonic devices and exploring both the heights and the depths of piano sound. I found this the most interesting and rewarding of all the works here.
Finally, we have Benjamin’s only Piano Sonata to date, a work he wrote at the age of seventeen while he was studying with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in Paris. It is in three movements which play continuously, with a slow movement in the middle. What I observe is a prodigality of invention, by no means particularly showing the influence of Messiaen, but also a difficulty in integrating all this material, which is hardly surprising in a young composer.
Erik Bertsch, the pianist here, is new to me but has built a career particularly concentrating on contemporary music. His playing reminds me of Pierre-Laurent Aimard in its clarity, intensity and occasional ferocity, and this is appropriate as Aimard is a friend of Benjamin and is the dedicatee of Shadowlines and also helped premiere Piano Figures. The piano sound on this recording is extremely impressive, appropriately so for the Piano Classics label. Such is Benjamin’s reputation that these are not all first recordings: Benjamin has himself recorded Piano Figures, Three Studies and the Piano Sonata, while there are several recordings of Shadowlines, including one by Aimard. However, it is convenient to have all these works brought together. I hope Benjamin can be persuaded to write more for the piano: what about another piano sonata? Meanwhile, let us be grateful for what we have.
Stephen Barber
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Contents:
Sortilèges (1981)
Piano Figures – Ten Short Pieces for piano (2004)
Olicantus (2001)
Three Studies for piano (1982-5)
Shadowlines – Six Canonic Preludes for piano (2001)
Piano Sonata (1978)
