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In his latest album, American pianist James Iman places Debussy’s everygreen Images alongside works by Jenny Beck and Donald Martino

IMAN: ALBUM II James W. Iman, piano (Divine Art Recordings)

This second album from American pianist James Iman places Debussy’s ‘Images’ alongside works by Donald Martino (1931-2005) and contemporary composer Jenny Beck (b.1985), whose work ‘Stand Still Here’ receives its premiere recording on this disc.

A specialist in music written since 1900 – with an emphasis on music written since 1945 – James Iman’s repertoire spans many stylistic developments since Debussy. He is particular in his study and research of the music he performs and records to enable him to find fresh interpretations and approaches to the familiar, as well as presenting the new and more leftfield corners of the repertoire to listeners. When I reviewed his debut album, I was impressed by his willingness to rise to the challenge of this music and meet it head on with conviction and musicality, alert to its myriad details and quirks. He is perhaps most at home in the contemporary and more unusual, yet on this second album, he displays a remarkable appreciation of Debussy’s music which I really enjoyed, allowing me to hear these well-known pieces afresh.

James Iman has, by his own admission, taken a very different approach to Debussy, one which some may find controversial. I asked James to explain how he arrived at his interpretation of the works by Debussy on this disc:

“There are a few factors that went into my conception of these pieces. The first was a general frustration with recordings, and the homogeneity of most performances. This, of course, isn’t a new phenomenon, nor one specific to Debussy but, for whatever reason, it bothers me more in his music. While first digging into these pieces, my approach was probably similar to most pianists; you digest the text, and find the bits you think are interesting, and come up with an interpretation that highlights them. At first, my goal wasn’t to present a radical departure from typical interpretations, but the further into Debussy I dug, the more it seemed necessary. Improvisation was almost a character trait of Debussy. He would improvise at the piano before class, and for hours at parties. Moreover, Debussy’s performances of his own pieces were said to sound improvised. Likewise, one of the things that Debussy expressed, repeatedly, was his desire to compose music that sounded as though it was being improvised. This was, of course, mainly an aesthetic concern – Debussy was looking to overcome the strictures of convention, and was (primarily, perhaps) referring to the perceived structure of his works and not necessarily the nature of the performance.

Two things crystalized all of these ideas for me. First was my discovery of the recordings by Paul Crossley. I don’t know how well-known his performances are, but they were new to me, and a revelation. Absolutely every measure is inflected! Every single note feels important. Somehow, miraculously, he avoids making the music sound manic. Second was discovering Debussy’s own recordings of his works. It’s really difficult to describe just how radical Debussy’s playing is! Notes of the same duration are two distinct speeds within the same phrase and occasionally within the same bar. He pushes and pulls tempo without warning and to degrees that would be regarded as well-outside what we might consider “good taste.”

All of these things together made it clear to me that, not only could I approach these pieces differently, but that I should. We’re a history-obsessed culture – we’re excessively concerned with the fidelity of a text (the “letter”), whether it’s law or religion or music. I wanted to concern myself more with the spirit of the text – get the notes, of course, but try to capture what Debussy has clearly shown was his intention.”

Iman’s ‘Images’ are bold and direct, brightly-lit and vividly hued: no impressionistic veils of sound here nor excessive use of the pedal. Mouvement thrums and pulsates; Hommage à Rameau has a stately grandeur that feels at once ancient and modern; the darting fish of Poissons d’or are not shy goldfish but bold, muscular Koi carp. Debussy’s vibrant musical language comes to the fore in Iman’s playing with an emphasis on the more piquant or crunchy harmonies and timbres, rather than melody. Attention to these details perhaps comes from Iman’s experience with more contemporary repertoire: there are passages where Debussy sounds ultra-modern when Iman highlights interior or bass details which are sometimes lost or underplayed in other performances of this music. Given Debussy’s dislike of the term “impressionist” in relation to his music, I suspect he may have enjoyed Iman’s interpretation.

After the myriad colours, harmonies and rhythms of Debussy, Jenny Beck’s ‘Stand Still Here’ – a suite of five terse miniatures each no longer than four minutes at most – provides an extraordinary contrast. These introspective, intimate pieces have a remarkable emotional presence, yet expressed so sparely, almost minimalistic. Yet, like Debussy, Beck exploits the timbres and sonorities of the piano to create a hypnotic intensity. Of this work, Iman says, “I have played Stand Still Here more times than any other work in my repertoire”. Through a deep familiarity, and affection, for this work, Iman is able to achieve a wonderful sense of spontaneity and improvisation: notes linger, vibrate, shimmer and fade. It’s a deeply absorbing interlude on this fascinating disc.

The final works are by Donald Martino. He studied with Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt, two of America’s foremost twelve-tone composers, but did not adopt the practice himself until he studied in Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola (though he never described himself as a “twelve-tone composer”). From Dallapiccola, Martino took a more lyrical approach to composing twelve-tone music, which culminates in his Fantasies and Impromptus. Like Debussy and Jenny Beck, Donald Martino enjoyed the myriad sonorities the piano offers. Iman gives a masterful performance of this collection of pieces which combine virtuosity and expression, improvisation and structure, making them the perfect complement to Debussy.

IMAN II is available on the Divine Art label and via streaming platforms

This review first appeared on my sister site ArtMuseLondon.com

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Claude Debussy – Images Books I & II, Images oubliées

Toru Takemitsu – Les yeux clos, Les yeux clos II, Rain Tree Sketch, Rain Tree Sketch II

Rika Zayasu, piano

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Claude Debussy, pianist Rika Zayasu has released a CD of two books of Images and Images oubliées, and four pieces by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.

Recorded at St Bartholomew’s, Brighton, this CD is produced and mastered by Claudio Records, using their new ‘Q-Lab Sound/192-Stereo High Definition Audio’, a technique which results in a remarkably pristine and natural quality of sound (undoubtedly helped by the fine acoustic of the recording venue and the quality Steinway instrument). CDs produced using this technique can be played on high-quality DVD-Audio equipment and Blu-Ray surround sound systems.

Rika plays with great sensitivity, displaying grace and precision in touch and use of pedal, and her understanding of Debussy’s music is clear from the range of musical shadings, nuances, colours, articulation and rhythmic vitality she brings to these works. The first Image from Book I, ‘Reflets dans l’eau’, is supple and fluid, with a rippling, luminous treble over a rich bass, which never overpowers. The oriental elements of this music (as in the other pieces in this suite) are highlighted, reminding us of Debussy’s fascination for Japonisme and eastern gamelan music. ‘Hommage à Rameau’ is haunting, stately and antique, its tempo relaxed but not dragging, so we never lose a sense of its structure, underpinned by the underlying 3-in-a-bar pulse, with some beautifully paced climaxes (again, evident in other works on the CD). ‘Mouvement’, in contrast, is sprightly and animated, with bright, joyful, bell-like sounds which continue into ‘Cloches a travers les feuilles’, in which Debussy evokes the sonorities of bells and carillons, and Far Eastern percussion. Here, there is some lovely, subtle highlighting of the internal melodic lines of this complex music. ‘Poissons d’or’ is vibrant and colourful, shimmering and characterful.

The Images oubliées are more introspective (Debussy described the pieces as “not for brilliantly lit salons … but rather conversations between the piano and oneself.”) . The ‘Lent’ is expressive and melancholy, while the ‘Sarabande’ (later reworked for the middle movement of Pour le Piano, with a few adjustments to harmony and phrasing) moves with a solemn, ancient elegance, with some lovely bright, clean fortes in the climaxes on the final page of the music. ‘Tres Vite’ is humourous, with toccata-like qualities which recall both the ‘Prelude’ and ‘Toccata’ from Pour le Piano, and ‘Jardins sous la pluie’ from Estampes.

The four pieces by Takemitsu perfectly complement the works by Debussy, and are related to them in the use of titles to stimulate the listener’s imagination. Les yeux clos (The Closed Eyes – three pieces in total) are inspired by a lithograph by the French symbolist artist Odilon Redon, which depicts a bust of a woman whose eyes are closed. It suggests a dream or inner world. Takemitsu’s music reflects this in the use of fragmented melodies over sustained pitches, with flexible durations, which freely connect to one another. Similarly, the Rain Tree Sketches were inspired by a poem by Japanese novelist, and friend to the composer, Kenzaburo Oe, which describes ‘the clever rain tree’, an ancient tree whose thousands of tiny leaves collect and store rain water, so that after the storm has passed, rain continues to fall from the tree. Precipitation is suggested through single droplets of quiet, lone sustained notes and sudden dissonant clusters of sounds, as if shaken from saturated branches.

All four pieces are played with immense control and insight. Soft, pastel-coloured sound showers and radiant trebles chime over rich bass sonorities and pedal points, while the silences are as carefully judged as the notes between them. These pieces are evocative and ethereal, their transcendental nature emphasised through the precise use of pedals, and the pianist’s ability to allow sounds to resonate and ring, or fade to nothing, which create an exquisite sense of stillness.

My Meet the Artist interview with Rika Zayasu

www.claudiorecords.com

Rika Zayasu plays Takemitsu Rain Tree Sketch II