Leon McCawley: Natural Connection
SOMM Recordings

Having issued acclaimed SOMM recordings featuring music by Haydn, Barber, Chopin, Schubert, and others, British pianist Leon McCawley now turns his attention to twenty-one works inspired by nature. While those four aren't part of Natural Connection, nine other nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers provide a representative account of music written in response to the changing seasons and the planet's flora and fauna. Naturally, expressive pieces by Debussy, Ravel, and Saint-Saëns appear on the piano recital, but so too do Bartók, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Christian Sinding. If the collection leans towards figures associated with Romanticism and Impressionism, musically it's all the more satisfying for doing so.

While McCawley, a professor of piano at London's Royal College of Music since 2008, regularly performs with orchestras, Natural Connection allows his artistry to be experienced with nothing but his own eloquent playing on display. Many of the pieces are miniatures, with only a handful pushing past five minutes. With four pieces by each, Liszt and Debussy are the most-represented; Grieg, by comparison, appears thrice, while Tchaikovsky, Bartók, Ravel, and Rachmaninov each appear twice. Of the works, the most familiar are Debussy's “Clair de Lune” and Saint-Saëns' “The Swan,” but the expressive readings they're given by McCawley makes them no less welcome.

The inaugural reverie comes from Norwegian composer Sinding and his 1896 Rustle of Spring, Op. 32 No. 3, its sparkling ripples redolent of much of what follows on the seventy-eight-minute set. Already McCawley's awesome command is evident in the fluid coupling of the work's tremulous patterns, not to mention his gifts as an interpreter. A similar impression of the pianist's talents emerges upon hearing his stirring rendition of Debussy's “Jardins sous la Pluie” (from the 1903 suite Estampes) and its sound-painting of gardens drenched by rain. The pianist's beguiling treatment of “Clair de Lune” (from 1905's Suite Bergamasque) amplifies its poetic allure, the playfulness of “The Snow is Dancing” (from Children's Corner) is endearing, and the fantastical aura emanating from 1904's L'isle joyeuse bolsters its magical effect.

All four of the Liszt settings derive from the collection Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), three books of which were produced over a period of approximately fifty years. Up first is the delicately sighing “Au lac de Wallenstadt,” whose picturesque details evoke the image of a boat gently drifting across the water's surface and the hushed stillness of the setting. Whereas the florid “Au bord d'une source” sparkles vividly, the declamatory “Orage” is turbulent (rather Mussorgsky-esque too). Less harrowing a ride is “Les beaux d'eau à la villa d'Este” whenit buoys the listener with gently rippling cascades. Bartók's irreverent miniature “From the Diary of a Fly” comes from Mikrokosmos, the 153-piece collection composed between 1925 and 1939. In contrast to the brevity of that selection is “The Night's Music,” the spooky fourth movement from his 1926 piano suite Out of Doors.

From Saint-Saëns' Le Carnaval des animaux, "The Swan" (in Leopold Godowsky's transcription) radiates resplendently under the pianist's touch. Ravel's entrancing “Oiseaux Tristes” (from the 1905 suite Miroirs) and flowing Jeux d'Eau make splendid arguments on behalf of the composer's singular artistry. With Lilacs, Op. 21 No. 5 and Daises, Op. 38 No. 3, Rachmaninov shows he's no slouch in the atmospherically suggestive department either. From Tchaikovsky's The Seasons comes the third of its dozen pieces, “Song of the Lark,”a bright reverie whose trilling melodies convincingly suggest the vocalizations of the titular creature. In keeping with the time of year, the contemplative “Autumn Song” (also from The Seasons) exudes melancholy and longing. Evocative sound painting is similarly demonstrated by Grieg in “Butterfly” and “Little Bird,” two playful vignettes from the sixty-six contained in the Scandinavian composer's Lyric Pieces, Op. 43.

February 2024