March 9, 2018

  • Piano Works of Sara Feigin

     Sara Feigin: Piano Works

    Benjamin Goodman, piano.
    Navona Records 6147
    Total Time: 46:53
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Latvian composer Sara Feigin (1928-2011) is perhaps best known in Israel for her work as a music educator and the founder of the Conservatory of Music in Holon.  It was here, beginning in the 1970s where she would shift some of her compositional focus to developing methodology series for young pianists and violinists and a long series of educational concerts.  This was quite a shift from her concert work that appeared in the 1950s and 1960s, including five ballets.  Her music is notable for its traditional harmony that is infused with unique folk influences both taking inspiration from many events, both personal and cultural.

    For this release, British-born pianist Benjamin Goodman has chosen a program of her works from across her oeuvre.  First up are the very brief Two Pieces (2003).  These feature a more romantic “Prelude” and an intense brief “Storm.”  They are interesting piano miniatures that help invite the listener in to the music that follows.  Dissonance comes more to the forefront in the intense Toccata (1972) which zips along with breakneck speed.  A lyrical central section creates a clearer statement of the Latvian folk theme basis for the work.  The piece though is a perfect virtuosic too mixing modern harmony and slight dissonance in a quite dramatic style.

    A brief collection of Four Scenes (1992) provide a further window into Feigin’s blend of traditional and quartal/quintal harmonies with slight dissonances for dramatic effect.  The music is filled with alternations of more lyrical segments and virtuosic displays, often kicked off with a few dissonances to mark the shifts.  Sometimes, it feels  a bit jazzy as in the “Joke”, and wistful “Memories.”  Here the music feels like a modern Impressionist style, equally like late Debussy in the final “Perpetuum Mobile”.  Underlying all this is a continued rhythmic vitality. A set of Variations (2002) gives the listener a further glimpse of her compositional style taking a beautiful folkish melody with extended jazz-like harmonies on an intriguing journey.

    The final work on the program is the 1972 Sonata for Piano.  Here is a work that exemplifies the musical aesthetic and approaches that inspired Feigin.  A four-movement work, its genesis was inspired by a painting by Joseph Kuzkovsky and bears a dedication to the victims of the Babi Yar concentration camp.  Here two are these interesting jazz harmonies and ballade-like lyrical moments that are interspersed with more dissonant and dramatic gestures.  The ideas seem to float with ease with interesting motivic development that helps hold the work together.

    Feigin’s music is quite accessible to those familiar with modernist-Romantic styles.  Goodman proves to be a committed interpreter to these pieces lending them a great sense of energy with clear melodic contours for the more lyrical moments of these pieces.  Certainly, this is an important disc of modern piano music that is filled with engaging and often touching music.