Tomono Kawamura: Reminiscence
Divine Art

Reminiscence impresses as a thoughtfully curated collection by pianist Tomono Kawamura. Connecting the selections are a shared focus on lyrical intimacy and elegiac feeling, but there's considerable variety too. While many settings are exercises in inward probing, others are energized dance studies that enliven the programme. In presenting material by Chopin, Scarlatti, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Grieg, and others, the album plays like the kind of recital the Japan-born pianist might deliver at any number of concert locations in North America or abroad.

Kawamura could have titled the album Journey, given its travelogue-like character. In featuring six pieces by Frédéric Chopin, it reflects the importance of his music to her life; interestingly, though, one of the album's most memorable compositions is the one credited to Kawamura herself, Variations, which plays like an heartfelt homage to the composers on the release by treating their material as a collective catalyst for her own statement. Like any recording of quality, Kawamura's is both a revealingly personal expression and one that speaks universally; it also, needless to say, features performances of sound technical calibre by a pianist who initiated studies at three and made her orchestral debut at fifteen and demonstrates an insightful understanding of the material presented.

A nostalgic tone is established with Tchaikovsky's “Autumn Song” from The Seasons. The delicacy of her touch and poetic rendering of the material speaks to Kawamura's sensitivity as an interpreter. The writing is certainly autumnal, but it's her handling of pacing and dynamics that evokes that quintessential October-associated mood. As she relaxes into the music, we already know we're in solid hands with her as our guide. Completely changing the tone, Sibelius's “Etude” from 13 Pieces dances with breezy ardour and light-hearted charm. Its kinetic energy carries over into the equally lively “Vivace,” the rollicking sixth of Brahms's folk-inflected 21 Hungarian Dances. He's also represented by a lovely waltz, the A-Flat Major fifteenth from 16 Waltzes.

The Chopin material arrives in a bunch, the six selections purposefully chosen to highlight different facets of his artistry. Three études pair with a prelude, nocturne, and ballade in this representative overview. After the twentieth prelude (in C Minor) from his Op. 28 collection provides a dramatic and solemn entry, the “Tristesse” étude (the first of three from Chopin's Op. 10) alleviates the tension with a tender statement but then gradually swells in intensity before returning to its plaintive beginning; replacing its heartbreak with, respectively, joviality and dazzling fireworks are the high-spirited “Black Keys” and “Revolutionary” études, both of which call upon Kawamura's virtuosic command. Her voicing of Chopin's C-Sharp Minor Nocturne is exquisite, her attentive rendition of his A-Flat Major Ballade No. 3 as gripping. At almost eight minutes, the latter is the longest of the album's sixteen tracks and affords a wonderful opportunity for the listener to luxuriate in her playing and savour her artistry.

As technically impressive is her fleet-fingered delivery of Domenico Scarlatti's exuberant A Major sonata. In alternating between gentle moments of reverie and declamatory episodes, Kawamura's own Variations integrates into a single expression the diverse moods of the other composers' pieces. Whereas the G Minor fifth of Rachmaninoff's 10 Preludes is devilry incarnate, Debussy's dreamlike “Clair de lune” is suitably transporting. As well-known a quantity is Grieg's “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” which receives an enthusiastic, high-intensity reading from Kawamura. Capping the release is a sensitive treatment of Giulio Caccini's wistful Ave Maria.

December 2024