SUMINA ARIHASHI - REVOLUTION FOR HARPSICHORD CD

SKU/Barcode: 4010276019671

H nssler Classic's Revolution for Cembalo is taken from a series of Revolution recordings licensed from King Records of Japan; at the outset, there is a MAJOR problem with this package in that we are told that Revolution for Cembalo (i.e., harpsichord) is performed by Sumina Arihashi playing the piano. No, the disc, as advertised in the title, is played on the harpsichord; this is a bone-headed error of translation. It's a very interesting program, however, concentrating on harpsichord works composed from the time of the instrument's eclipse around 1800 to just after the turn of the twenty-first century. Moreover, in terms of twentieth century harpsichord literature, these pieces fall outside the usual mainstream; Arihashi does not delve into the repertoire developed by Sylvia Marlowe in the United States, nor does she resort to Gy rgy Ligeti's well-known works for the instrument. Here we have Busoni's Sonatina ad usum infantis, usually heard on piano but scored with the harpsichord in mind; Arihashi's choice of tempi in this piece is rather strange sounding, slower in most cases than is the norm, though faster in sections in where it can go at a slow to moderate tempo. This, the Tansman, and the Tcherepnin works leave a rather ambivalent impression, but the highlights are quite good -- the Ravel, Donizetti, Delius, and Richard Strauss works are memorably well played. What stands out are the Japanese composers featured here, the suave and stylish Santa Maria and Petite Romance of Akira Ifukube and the Folksongs of North-Eastern Japan by Kiyoshi Nobutoki, the first of which ingeniously utilizes the quieter of the two manuals of the harpsichord to imitate the sound of the koto. Sometimes the recording is a little too close and the fingers hammering away at the keyboard threaten to drown out the music. Another highlight is Arihashi's revved-up version of Perrey and Kingsley's Baroque Hoedown, originally an electronic work. According to her Japanese concert programs, this little bit of bravura has served Arihashi well and she frequently employs it to bring down the house; that H nssler rather tastelessly refers to it in translation as a "Baroque dance of the negroes" hopefully won't deter anyone who might enjoy it from acquiring H nssler Classic's Revolution for Cembalo.