Come visit us ★ 32 Cannon Street, Poughkeepsie NY

Your cart

Your cart is empty

Check out these collections

New Vinyl
Coming Soon
Back In Stock Vinyl

Small Is Beautiful / Various- Small Is Beautiful

SKU: 896931005944
¥119.00
the album cover for Small Is Beautiful / Various - Small Is Beautiful
the album cover for Small Is Beautiful / Various - Small Is Beautiful

Japanese-Canadian pianist Yoko Hirota stuns with impeccable pianism on SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL: MINIATURE PIANO PIECES. Originally recorded in 2009, this remastered edition brings out the intricacies of 20th- and 21st-century piano composition with a clarity that was previously unheard of. The first half of the album's track list reads like an exhaustive compendium of 1900's compositional celebrities: Schoenberg, Krenek, Ligeti, Berio. It's a brainy choice: the tracks on SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL aren't ordered by length, as one might intuit, but instead in geographical and roughly chronological order. Vienna's modernists may have laid the foundation, but North America's modernists took serial and atonal composition to the next level. And so, to do the matter justice, there is a splendidly representative selection of Elliott Carter's oeuvre, along with pieces by Canadian composers - John Beckwith. Despite the immense differences in cultural background and era - the selection spans almost a century, after all - they are all united by one distinguishing feature: They are short pieces, with lengths between 31 seconds and six-and-a-half minutes. Yoko Hirota, who holds a doctoral degree in piano performance and currently teaches the piano at the Music Department of Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, plays all of these pieces with academic precision, regardless of their respective geographical or temporal provenance. A recording veteran with six previous contemporary albums under her belt, her grasp of the modernist zeitgeist is not only palpable, but extraordinary. And it shows: there is a subtle lyricism even where traditional harmonies clash, a sensitivity not just for the musical language of the era, but for the greater principles that underpin them. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL doesn't just serve as an index of contemporary piano composition and it's roots, it's a worthwhile addition to a modernist record collection on merit of Hirota's powerful interpretation alone.

Tracklist:

  1. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 1, Leicht, Zart
  2. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 2, Langsam
  3. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 3, Sehr Langsame
  4. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 4, Rasch, Aber Leicht
  5. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 5, Etwas Rasch
  6. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 6, Sehr Langsam
  7. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 1, Etude
  8. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 2, Invention
  9. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 3, Scherzo
  10. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 4, Toccata
  11. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 5, Nocturne
  12. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 5, Waltz
  13. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 6, Air
  14. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 7, Rondo
  15. Invention (Version For Piano)
  16. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 4, Erdenklavier
  17. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 1, Brin
  18. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 2, Leaf
  19. 90+
  20. Retrouvailles
  21. The Music Room
  22. Fantasy For Piano
  23. Elegy For A Misty Afternoon
  24. Canon Stride
  25. Traces: I. -
  26. Traces: II. -
  27. 2 Pieces For Piano: No. 1, -
  28. 2 Pieces For Piano: No. 2, -
  29. 6 Ushebtis: No. 1, -
  30. 6 Ushebtis: No. 2, -
  31. 6 Ushebtis: No. 3, -
  32. 6 Ushebtis: No. 4, -
  33. 6 Ushebtis: No. 5, -
  34. 6 Ushebtis: No. 6, -
  35. Tanze Vor Angst

UPC > 896931005944

Format > New CD

Label > Navona

Shop online at Darkside Records.

Follow us on Instagram.

Format: New CD/Classical

Small Is Beautiful / Various- Small Is Beautiful

SKU: 896931005944
¥119.00

Release Date: 11.20.2020

 
Shipping calculated at checkout.

> Due to the current limited nature of music titles, ALL CD & Vinyl purchases are limited to FOUR copies per customer, per item. If you place multiple orders for multiples of the same title, your subsequent orders will be canceled.

Japanese-Canadian pianist Yoko Hirota stuns with impeccable pianism on SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL: MINIATURE PIANO PIECES. Originally recorded in 2009, this remastered edition brings out the intricacies of 20th- and 21st-century piano composition with a clarity that was previously unheard of. The first half of the album's track list reads like an exhaustive compendium of 1900's compositional celebrities: Schoenberg, Krenek, Ligeti, Berio. It's a brainy choice: the tracks on SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL aren't ordered by length, as one might intuit, but instead in geographical and roughly chronological order. Vienna's modernists may have laid the foundation, but North America's modernists took serial and atonal composition to the next level. And so, to do the matter justice, there is a splendidly representative selection of Elliott Carter's oeuvre, along with pieces by Canadian composers - John Beckwith. Despite the immense differences in cultural background and era - the selection spans almost a century, after all - they are all united by one distinguishing feature: They are short pieces, with lengths between 31 seconds and six-and-a-half minutes. Yoko Hirota, who holds a doctoral degree in piano performance and currently teaches the piano at the Music Department of Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, plays all of these pieces with academic precision, regardless of their respective geographical or temporal provenance. A recording veteran with six previous contemporary albums under her belt, her grasp of the modernist zeitgeist is not only palpable, but extraordinary. And it shows: there is a subtle lyricism even where traditional harmonies clash, a sensitivity not just for the musical language of the era, but for the greater principles that underpin them. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL doesn't just serve as an index of contemporary piano composition and it's roots, it's a worthwhile addition to a modernist record collection on merit of Hirota's powerful interpretation alone.

Tracklist:

  1. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 1, Leicht, Zart
  2. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 2, Langsam
  3. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 3, Sehr Langsame
  4. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 4, Rasch, Aber Leicht
  5. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 5, Etwas Rasch
  6. 6 Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19: No. 6, Sehr Langsam
  7. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 1, Etude
  8. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 2, Invention
  9. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 3, Scherzo
  10. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 4, Toccata
  11. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 5, Nocturne
  12. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 5, Waltz
  13. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 6, Air
  14. 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 110: No. 7, Rondo
  15. Invention (Version For Piano)
  16. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 4, Erdenklavier
  17. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 1, Brin
  18. 6 Encores For Piano (Excerpts): No. 2, Leaf
  19. 90+
  20. Retrouvailles
  21. The Music Room
  22. Fantasy For Piano
  23. Elegy For A Misty Afternoon
  24. Canon Stride
  25. Traces: I. -
  26. Traces: II. -
  27. 2 Pieces For Piano: No. 1, -
  28. 2 Pieces For Piano: No. 2, -
  29. 6 Ushebtis: No. 1, -
  30. 6 Ushebtis: No. 2, -
  31. 6 Ushebtis: No. 3, -
  32. 6 Ushebtis: No. 4, -
  33. 6 Ushebtis: No. 5, -
  34. 6 Ushebtis: No. 6, -
  35. Tanze Vor Angst

UPC > 896931005944

Format > New CD

Label > Navona

Shop online at Darkside Records.

Follow us on Instagram.