Fiona & Chiara Alaimo: Goulam, Field: Échos
Da Vinci Classics

Échos, Fiona and Chiara Alaimo's debut release, presents the twin sisters performing works by French composers Sharad Goulam and Gabriel Field. Graduates of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and Ecole Normale de Musique ‘Alfred Cortot,' the Alaimos have garnered acclaim for solo and piano duet performances and often combine repertoire from both in their concerts. Their natural chemistry finds a tremendous outlet in this seventy-minute collection of material by Goulam and Field. It's not difficult to discern stylistic differences between the composers, who are colleagues and friends of long-standing (both trained in Paris under the same teachers); at the same time, their works are complementary. Both gravitate towards an harmonic language distinguished by tonality and expressive colour, yet they aren't averse to weaving dissonance into their pieces too. Contrast is revealed in the compositional structures in play, with Goulam represented by four standalones and a pair of nocturnes and Field three multi-part works and a single standalone. Given the evidence at hand, it appears the latter favours the miniature more than his colleague.

Rather than present one composer's material and then the other's, the Alaimos wisely decided to alternate between them, which makes for a satisfying flow and a surprisingly cohesive result. The pianists render the pieces with clear and lucid understanding and a seemingly effortless precision that comes from years of training. When aggressiveness is required, they're up to the task, but when the recording's more introspective settings demand tenderness and delicacy, they deliver. Note, however, that the sisters split the performances and don't appear together on any of the pieces.

Fiona's up first with a dazzling rendition of Goulam's aptly titled Toccata Furiosa, all relentless rhythms and laser-focused drive. Momentum never slows, though passages of relative calm do surface amidst ones pitched at high-volume. Such a breathless exercise in dynamism demands a gentler follow-up, which Chiara's presentation of eight Field chorals (taken from a two-volume collection of twenty-four chorals each) provides. The austere poetry of the opening choral sets the tone for this serenading set, which in moments might have one thinking of Debussy for the material's harmonic sophistication, poise, and finesse. Each minute-long, etude-like expression is an attractive jewel, precisely created, compact, and beautiful. Darkness nevertheless does creep in, as shown by the brooding seventh. After a regal eighth choral, Fiona takes over for an enchanting treatment of Goulam's elaborate Arabesque, darkness now even more pronounced in the mysterious atmosphere established by its chromatic phrases and exotic air. At times the differences between the composers are pronounced, never more so perhaps than in the transition from Arabesque to Field's pretty berceuses. Fiona executes these four beguiling settings, which perpetuate the French tradition of harmonic elegance, with a graceful touch befitting their intimate character.

The kinetic drive of Toccata Furiosa returns for Goulam's Prélude V if a tad less furiously. Still, there's no denying the forcefulness of the waves Chiara rides in this too-brief statement. His Marche, on the other hand, is the album's longest piece at eight minutes, which grants Fiona ample time to let its aromatic harmonies, contrapuntal design, and nocturnal atmospheres work their magic. Unlike the soothing lullaby-like tone of the berceuses, Field's three Chiara-performed Pièces Joyeuses venture into different realms, its first exuding shadowy bleakness, loneliness, and despair, the meditative, chant-like second both downtrodden and tentatively hopeful, and the third the most energized of the three, though even here the struggle towards happiness feels thwarted. Executed with immense care by Chiara, two Goulam nocturnes inhabit the penultimate position, the first a funereal expression, initially delicate but marked by mounting turbulence, voiced with patience and control by the pianist, and the lyrical second as enrapturing. Fiona gets the last word with a tender, clear-eyed reading of Field's Péché d'époque, a perfect choice of closer when its soothing lilt is punctuated by four-note cross-patterns that wholly enchant.

April 2026