Pianist
Lisa Moore
has recorded the music of
Frederic Rzewski
in the past, but this 2022 release, recorded not long after
Rzewski
's too-little-remarked death, makes a fine memorial to the composer. For one thing, it contains a work,
Amoramaro
, that was commissioned for
Moore
and turned out to be one of the last things he composed. Furthermore, the notes by
contain terrific material about her long creative relationship with
; for fans of the composer, and even for those new to him, they convey a great deal about the essence of his music. In general,
's playing is beautifully attuned to
's music, which has a kinship to minimalism in its use of repeated material but deploys it in such a way as to produce tension. This tension may, as in
Coming Together
(based on a fragment from a prison diary), be linked to social justice concerns but may equally easily be turned lyrical. On
and in the opening song setting of
Andrew Marvell
's
To His Coy Mistress
, listeners get to hear
's voice, which is ideal, slightly deadpan but not inexpressive. She has the chops to handle
's eruptions of virtuosity as well. These are somewhat neglected
pieces; the substantial
title work
is probably the best known, but
makes a strong connection with each one, and this shows signs of being a
recording that will last. ~ James Manheim