Volume 3 in István Kassai’s survey of Leo Weiner’s piano music offers 55 wonderful alternatives for young pianists wishing to play easy, Hungarian-folksong-based pieces that are not Bartók’s Mikrokosmos. Although their technical demands are modest, Weiner doesn’t hold back on the pungent harmonic invention and melodic freshness that informs his “adult” music. Listening to each of these little gems one after another is not unlike consuming a bowl of spicy peanuts or dry Wasabe peas: once you start, you can’t stop!
Listeners familiar with Weiner’s colorful Op. 18 suite in its original orchestral form will be surprised how well it translates via piano duet into “black and white”. By overdubbing both primo and secondo, Kassai attains sparkling precision, but I suspect that two performers in real time might achieve more playful and spontaneous results in the finale’s ricochet-like syncopations. The recording quality has a bright, steel-edged patina that borders on the monochrome, which is not the case with Kassai’s full, virile sonority. At any rate, Weiner’s vital, creative voice deserves all the advocacy it can get, and those who enjoyed Volumes 1 and 2 need no further encouragement from these quarters.
