Search - Thalia Myers :: Spectrum & Spectrum #2: 50 Contemp Wrks Solo Pno

Modern music made easy

Mark Swinton | 06/04/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This double CD is a recording of "Spectrum" - two volumes of piano music by late twentieth century composers. The works were commissioned by Thalia Myers and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music from a wide range of figures, well-known and otherwise, with a simple brief: to create short pieces in a contemporary style that could be accessed by pianists of any standard.As a composer myself, I can safely say that such a brief is not as easy to follow as it may seem. Whilst it is true that short works are easier to write than long ones, it is never always easy to think of beginners or amateurs at primary school level when you're used to working with professionals and semi-professionals of more or less the same standard as yourself. In "Spectrum," the various composers have met the challenge impeccably, and the books are now proving to be a useful teaching tool with which to introduce young performers to contemporary music. With this recording, the same material can be made accessible to first-time listeners as well as performers.The first volume is perhaps the harder of the two in terms of both listening and playing the music. Most of the composers featured in it returned to contribute to the second volume and it is clear (from listening) that some lessons were learned: you may find it more pleasant to put Disc Two on first when trying it out. To summarise all the pieces, short though they are, is beyond the scope of this review but among the names appearing are Jonathan Harvey, Diana Burrell, Michael Finnisey, Graham Fitkin, Philip Cashian, John Tavener, Howard Skempton and Stephen Montague. In the books, most of the pieces occupy single or double page spreads only; on disc, this makes each track less than two minutes long. (For the record, the absolute shortest work is Jonathan Harvey's "Haiku" from the second volume, which is two lines long on paper and takes just 30 seconds to play!)Take the music as you will, but in all cases it is well-played: Thalia Myers commands a wonderful expressive range and captures the extreme subtlety of each and every piece. This really is the finest introduction to modern music around!"