Primeval Sounds offers a programming concept that turns out to prove as interesting and provocative in execution as it does in theory. By putting Claude Debussy’s Preludes Book 1 and George Crumb’s Makrokosmos I together, pianist Enrico Belli aims to highlight the connection between composers, alternating between cycles, piece by piece in sequence. While each cycle ultimately benefits from being heard uninterrupted from start to finish, Belli’s juxtapositions underline each composer’s splendid ear for keyboard registration as well as their mutual sensitivity to the resonance and space between their carefully considered choices of notes.
As I listened, I found the stylistic disparity less jarring than expected. The whimsical dance-like lines of Crumb’s Pastorale make an easy transition into the quiet opening of Debussy’s Le vent dans la plaine. Similarly, Debussy’s stark, slow-moving Des pas sur la neige sustains the mood Crumb sets by way of Night-Spell I’s ghostly single notes, delicate whistles, and inside-the-piano knocks.
While Belli’s meticulously calibrated and gorgeously nuanced pianism is totally in sync with each composer’s sound world, a few instances of stylistic cross-fertilization give cause for concern. For example, I perceive Belli’s unusually slow and static treatment of Danseuses de Delphes and La cathédrale engloutie as an attempt to recast Debussy according to Crumb’s aesthetic. Would Belli portray The Girl with the Flaxen Hair in less statuesque light or infuse more lilt and charm into La serenade interrompue had these pieces not book-ended the dissonant, sparkling fireworks of Crumb’s The Magic Circle of Infinity? Still, a formidable pianist is at work, and the atmospheric live recording does full justice to his concept and performance. A fascinating release.
