In tribute to her longtime mentor and friend Frederic Rzewski, the intrepid, iconoclastic and politically active pianist-composer who passed away in 2021, pianist Lisa Moore presents five poignant performances of his most lyrical work. Taking its title from the vibrant, lush and melody-rich ‘no place to go but around’ (composed in 1974), the recording is of a piece with Moore's wide-ranging 2016 Cantaloupe release The Stone People, and finds her once again embracing an adventurist streak as she digs deep into the nuances of Rzewski’s timeless music. “He was blunt, matter-of-fact, frustrating, and brilliant,” Moore recalls in her revealing liner notes for the album. “Yet deep down, he was a real mensch who cared deeply for humanity. His works had strong underlying, or overlying, messages of social justice. He was a bohemian family man, giving most of his meager income to his children and grandchildren. Personally, when I once thought of quitting piano, he encouraged me to keep going — he said, ‘Why stop playing? Don’t waste your investment. Just do other things, too.’ We always got along. I worked with him closely on De Profundis and To His Coy Mistress. ‘The playing’s always fine, Lisa,’ he said, ‘but go further, to exaggerate the words. You have to be the crazy woman in the attic.’”

REVIEW:

Pianist Lisa Moore has recorded the music of Frederic Rzewski in the past, but this 2022 release, recorded not long after Rzewski's too-little-remarked death, makes a fine memorial to the composer. In general, Moore's playing is beautifully attuned to Rzewski's music, which has a kinship to minimalism in its use of repeated material but deploys it in such a way as to produce tension. She has the chops to handle Rzewski's eruptions of virtuosity as well. These are somewhat neglected Rzewski pieces; the substantial title work is probably the best known, but Moore makes a strong connection with each one, and this shows signs of being a Rzewski recording that will last.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)