Alun Hoddinott - Piano Sonatas 1-5

ALUN HODDINOTT (1929-2008)

Piano Sonatas 1-5

Martin Jones

Piano Sonata No.1 Op.17

1-Andante

2-Allegro

3-Adagio

4-Allegro asai

Piano Sonata No.2 Op.27

5-Moderato

6-Adagio

7-Allegro

Piano Sonata No.3 Op.40

8-Adagio, espreesivo e rubatto, Allegro energico

Piano Sonata No.4 Op.49

9-Toccata I-Allegro agitato

10-Aria-Adagio flesibile

11-Toccata II-Presto

12-Notturno-Lentissimo

13-Toccata III-Allegro con brio

Piano Sonata No.5 Op.57

14-Cadenza-Allegro

15-Aria I-Adagio

16-Aria II-Andante

17-Toccata-Presto

Martin Jones (Piano)

from Nimbus Complete Set Sonatas 1-10

Nimbus originally released Alun Hoddinott's Piano Sonatas, Nos. 1-10, on two separate albums in 1993 and 1995, but in the interim, the prolific composer had already composed two more works in the series; thus, any numerical "clue" pointing to Scriabin's famous set of 10 sonatas is unintended. Yet there is a kind of mystical languor that runs through Hoddinott's sonatas that at times will remind listeners of Scriabin's vaporous soundworld, and his misty chromatic harmonies, complex cross-rhythms, and obsessively developed short motives are similar enough to those in Scriabin's music to make a fair case for some influence. Just as often, though, these multi-movement, highly contrapuntal pieces turn on forms adapted from Baroque and Classical models, so for all his apparent absorption of Scriabin's language, Hoddinott's formal ideas clearly owe a debt to earlier music, though veiled in a thoroughly modernist idiom. Pianist Martin Jones recorded this cycle in the composer's presence, which suggests that these are approved performances. However, because of the fairly distant microphone placement and the venue's lively acoustics, the piano's sound is muted and overly hazy -- perhaps not ideal for identifying fine details in Hoddinott's thicker textures, but conducive to the blurred harmonies and indistinct tonality that make these pieces atmospheric and mysterious.

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These are truly distinctive and beguiling works. There are obvious links to Debussy and Ravel in their harmonies, but the deeper truths lie in the throughtul structures of these pieces where an oft times seething violence trembles beneath a willful stoic wisdom to generate an entrancing eruption of Dionysian and Apollonian tensions.

Each work, early or late, carries an enigmatic poetry within an enthralling harmonic pallet rarely heard in mid-to-late 20th century piano music. This is a rich and carefully created music from a true artist which wastes not a note.

This is music not to be missed.