Thomas Adès deals in big gestures and has been best known for his music in larger forms. His piano music is not much played, but this fine release by pianist Han Chen may change that. Adès himself is a formidable pianist who premiered some of the works heard here. Adès is one of the few composers in recent years to have revived the concert paraphrase genre beloved of 19th century pianists, most of all Franz Liszt. The Blanca Variations also have roots in an Adès opera, The Exterminating Angel, streamed by the Metropolitan ...
Read More
Thomas Adès deals in big gestures and has been best known for his music in larger forms. His piano music is not much played, but this fine release by pianist Han Chen may change that. Adès himself is a formidable pianist who premiered some of the works heard here. Adès is one of the few composers in recent years to have revived the concert paraphrase genre beloved of 19th century pianists, most of all Franz Liszt. The Blanca Variations also have roots in an Adès opera, The Exterminating Angel, streamed by the Metropolitan Opera during the 2020 coronavirus epidemic, and there are two ingenious adaptations of John Dowland's lute music to the piano. Especially remarkable is Darknesse Visible, which retains all the pitches of Dowland's lute song but alters loudness, register, and texture to a point where the piece is hardly recognizable. This places great demands on the pianist, in terms of control rather than speed and fireworks, and Han Chen delivers a marvelously precise reading. Much of the music...
Read Less