Diana Baker - Gubaidulina: Complete Piano Music (2006)

The 1962 Chaconne is a remarkable work. The edgy and harsh beginning belies the possiblities of sudden tonal arrivals and jazz-like walking basses (both of which matierialize). Baker reveals a feather-light touch for the more obvious toccata passages; as the music builds up and the touch becomes more insistent, so parallels with Ligeti’s etudes become unavoidable. Both composers also seem to delight in low register aggregations, a black sound that seems to come directly from late Liszt.

Tomoko Mukaiyama’s recording of Gubaidulina’s Piano Sonata was reviewed in Fanfare 30:5 . I have not heard Mukaiyama’s account, but from Robert Carl’s review, hers is a powerhouse performance. Baker is without question up to the most dynamic pounding passages, but she is very subtle also, finding huge contrasts in the gargantuan score. Although only lasting 23 minutes, Gubaidulina’s Piano Sonata is exhausting to listen to. Moments of repose (say around 8:50 into the first movement) remain underpinned by the dark unease that lies at the heart of the work. That unease is most explicitly expressed in the Adagio, which is a hypnotic exercise in the power of the small but significant gesture. Gubaidulina makes some Cageian adaptations to the piano, most obviously heard in the middle sections of this slow movement. The short finale positively glows with energy. Written in 1965, the Sonata had to wait until 1974 for publication. Its importance is now acknowledged, and all it needs is the foothold in the regular repertoire it so clearly deserves.

In the tradition of Debussy’s Children’s Corner and Schumann’s Kinderszenen , Gubaidulina’s Musical Toys is a selection of 14 short pieces for children (explicitly, the composer’s young daughter). Gubaidulina gives each a concise title. Each one is a charming little gem, expertly crafted and making its point in a small musical space (half of the movements last less than a minute). Baker adjusts her playing accordingly, delivering the music with disarming charm and simplicity. The walking bass of “A bear playing the double bass and the black woman” is further testimony to the jazzy influence on Gubaidulina’s music, while “The Woodpecker” is wonderfully onomatapoeic. Toccata-Troncata of 1971 is an exercise in sonority, with the composer asking the performer to depress certain keys silently so their harmonics can be activated by surrounding key strikes. Finally, the exciting Invention (1974) includes 39 time changes within 63 bars. Again, it tends towards jazz at times while revealing a distinctly Shostakovich-like accent. - Colin Clarke