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Small Is Beautiful / Yoko Hirota
Navona

Small Is Beautiful / Yoko Hirota

$16.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Yoko Hirota
Format
CD
Label
Navona
Released
Nov 20, 2020
Catalog #
NV6294
UPC
896931005944

About

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 its roots, it's a worthwhile addition to a modernist record collection on merit of Hirota's powerful interpretation alone.

Tracklist 35 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Leicht, zart 01:27
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Leicht, zart
    Duration
    01:27
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  2. 2 No. 2. Langsam 00:48
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Langsam
    Duration
    00:48
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  3. 3 No. 3. Sehr langsam Viertel 00:53
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Sehr langsam Viertel
    Duration
    00:53
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  4. 4 No. 4. Rasch, aber leicht 00:35
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Rasch, aber leicht
    Duration
    00:35
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  5. 5 No. 5. Etwas rasch 00:31
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. Etwas rasch
    Duration
    00:31
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  6. 6 No. 6. Sehr langsam 01:03
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. Sehr langsam
    Duration
    01:03
    Composer
    Arnold Schoenberg
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  7. 7 No. 1. Etude 00:45
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 1. Etude
    Duration
    00:45
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  8. 8 No. 2. Invention 01:01
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 2. Invention
    Duration
    01:01
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  9. 9 No. 3. Scherzo 00:47
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 3. Scherzo
    Duration
    00:47
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  10. 10 No. 4. Toccata 00:58
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 4. Toccata
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  11. 11 No. 5. Nocturne 01:57
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 5. Nocturne
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  12. 12 No. 6. Waltz 00:59
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 6. Waltz
    Duration
    00:59
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  13. 13 No. 7. Air 02:19
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 7. Air
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  14. 14 No. 8. Rondo 01:17
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 8. Rondo
    Duration
    01:17
    Composer
    Ernst Krenek
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  15. 15 Invention 01:09
    Track
    15
    Title
    Invention
    Duration
    01:09
    Composer
    György Ligeti
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  16. 16 6 Encores: Erdenklavier 01:38
    Track
    16
    Title
    6 Encores: Erdenklavier
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    Luciano Berio
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  17. 17 6 Encores: Brin 02:05
    Track
    17
    Title
    6 Encores: Brin
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Luciano Berio
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  18. 18 6 Encores: Leaf 01:30
    Track
    18
    Title
    6 Encores: Leaf
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Luciano Berio
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  19. 19 90+ 05:05
    Track
    19
    Title
    90+
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  20. 20 Retrouvailles 01:48
    Track
    20
    Title
    Retrouvailles
    Duration
    01:48
    Composer
    Elliott Carter
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  21. 21 The Music Room 03:07
    Track
    21
    Title
    The Music Room
    Duration
    03:07
    Composer
    John Beckwith
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  22. 22 Fantasy 06:52
    Track
    22
    Title
    Fantasy
    Duration
    06:52
    Composer
    Bruce Mather
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  23. 23 Elegy for a Misty Afternoon 02:59
    Track
    23
    Title
    Elegy for a Misty Afternoon
    Duration
    02:59
    Composer
    Brian Cherney
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  24. 24 CanOn Stride 02:25
    Track
    24
    Title
    CanOn Stride
    Duration
    02:25
    Composer
    John Weinzweig
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  25. 25 I. — 03:05
    Track
    25
    Title
    I. —
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Aris Carastathis
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  26. 26 II. — 02:53
    Track
    26
    Title
    II. —
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    Aris Carastathis
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  27. 27 No. 1. — 04:29
    Track
    27
    Title
    No. 1. —
    Duration
    04:29
    Composer
    Gary Kulesha
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  28. 28 No. 2. — 03:16
    Track
    28
    Title
    No. 2. —
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Gary Kulesha
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  29. 29 No. 1. — 02:19
    Track
    29
    Title
    No. 1. —
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  30. 30 No. 2. — 02:17
    Track
    30
    Title
    No. 2. —
    Duration
    02:17
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  31. 31 No. 3. — 01:55
    Track
    31
    Title
    No. 3. —
    Duration
    01:55
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  32. 32 No. 4. — 01:33
    Track
    32
    Title
    No. 4. —
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  33. 33 No. 5. — 03:23
    Track
    33
    Title
    No. 5. —
    Duration
    03:23
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  34. 34 No. 6. — 01:45
    Track
    34
    Title
    No. 6. —
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota
  35. 35 Tanze vor Angst, "Hommage à Paul Klee" 03:40
    Track
    35
    Title
    Tanze vor Angst, "Hommage à Paul Klee"
    Duration
    03:40
    Composer
    Robert Lemay
    Performer
    Yoko Hirota