Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Aka Pygmies - African Rhythms (2003)

African Rhythms is the brainchild of pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who has in this package daringly programmed together recordings of Pygmy songs (performed by the Aka Pygmies) with works of contemporary composers György Ligeti and Steve Reich. Aimard performs all of the non-African works on this CD, including Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood played on the piano, rather than on pieces of wood. Reich's Clapping Music is performed by Aimard himself through multi-tracking. Ligeti's work is represented by a selection of his piano etudes of the 1990s. Inside the handsomely designed booklet there are short, multilingual essays by Aimard and Ligeti that attempt to illuminate this concept, plus an added, recycled note by Reich about Clapping Music and some material on the Aka Pygmies by Simha Arom and Stefan Schomann. Of course, the risk in compiling a collection of this kind comes down to whether or not the listener feels that this stuff all fits together and, thereby, "buys" the concept. It's a hard sell; while there is nothing wrong with the individual parts here, it doesn't seem that they make up a cohesive whole. However, these are fine performances of the Ligeti piano etudes, the Reich is good (although Clapping Music sounds more interesting performed live by more than one person) and the Aka Pygmies obviously merit the praise that Ligeti accords them in his note. In the final analysis, as a musical adventure in African Rhythms is well worth taking, you may find yourself reordering the tracks so that you can hear the various parts of this program pulled together into a more meaningful sequence of events.