Aaron Copland’s three major large-scale piano works count among the composer’s greatest in any genre. Their jagged keyboard edges and austere lyricism best communicate in the hands of a virtuoso gifted with strong hands and patient ears. I’m certain Benjamin Pasternack’s idiomatic mastery would have pleased the composer no end. Granted, in the Fantasy Pasternack doesn’t match Leo Smit’s gritty resonance within big chords, and the Sonata’s central Vivace sounds a shade square and literal compared to Peter Lawson’s suppler phrasing. But Pasternack’s subtle gradations in touch and gentle yet firm sustaining power in the Andante sostenuto command your attention. So does the authority with which he integrates and characterizes the Variations’ radical swings in mood and texture. The dry, dynamically constricted, closely miked ambience, though not really to my taste, befits Copland’s quasi-percussive piano writing. I can’t imagine a better way to inexpensively acquire the three pillars of Copland’s solo piano output in committed, rock solid performances.
