Though Paul Ben-Haim is German, his music is distinctly French in its harmonic sense, intention, and approach to form. His language is the language of Poulenc, Milhaud, or Debussy but with more bite–something like the occasional aggressive pulsing of Bartók or grotesquerie of Prokofiev. The six pieces on this disc, assayed clearly and beautifully by pianist Gila Goldstein, display the composer’s capability for variety within each separate work; but as the listening progresses, it becomes clear how limited Ben-Haim is with his invention–the Pastorale movement from Suite No. 2 is too similar to the Pastorale in the Five Pieces, for example. Also problematic is how derivative he is: when he sounds like Ravel, he sounds too much like Ravel for comfort.
Yet Goldstein finds the music’s distinctive beauty and even manages some coherence to the overall program. When she needs to be fleeting and clever, as in the Molto vivo of the Sonatina, she does so in a pitch-perfect, non-tongue-in-cheek fashion; when she needs to be lush, as in the Nocturne of Suite No. 2 or the very end of “Melody and Variations”, she achieves a round, centered tone. Her touch is just right for this music, which she takes on with an appropriately serious sense of whimsy. These compositions may not qualify as important, or as “major” works, but they are so irresistibly pretty that this disc is worth a listen on that score alone.
