Aki Kuroda - FIREBIRD: 20th Century Piano Transcriptions.

1. 01 Mahler-Sugiyama – Super-Adagietto Intermezzo XIII
   
2. 02 Stravinsky-Agosti – L’oiseau de feu – I Danse infernal du roi Kastchei
   
3. 03 Stravinsky-Agosti – L’oiseau de feu – II Berceuse
   
4. 04 Stravinsky-Agosti – L’oiseau de feu – III Finale
   
5. 05 Debussy-Borwick – Prelude a L’apres-midi d’un faune, L 86
   
6. 06 Schoenberg-Steuermann – Kammersymphonie No 1 in E major, Op 9 – I Langsam – Sehr rasch
   
7. 07 Schoenberg-Steuermann – Kammersymphonie No 1 in E major, Op 9 – II Feurig – Hauptzeitmass – ruhiger – sehr rasch
   
8. 08 Schoenberg-Steuermann – Kammersymphonie No 1 in E major, Op 9 – III Viel langsamer – fliessender – schwungvoll – Hauptzeitm
   
9. 09 Schoenberg-Steuermann – Kammersymphonie No 1 in E major, Op 9 – IV Etwas ruhiger – steigerd – Hauptzeitmass
   

AKI KURODA – FIREBIRD: 20th Century Piano Transcriptions.

Stravinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg, Mahler

Japanese pianist Aki Kuroda presents four orchestral works from two major centers of European culture, Paris and Vienna, at the dawn of the 20th century, written by four composers who perhaps more than any others were shaping the course of new music at the time.
Here heard transcribed for piano solo, she reveals new perspectives on them, allowing us to encounter the music afresh, in its boldest, and perhaps most essential form. The disc opens with a work specially commissioned for the CD, Yoichi Sugiyama’s transcription of Mahler’s Adagietto, from the 5th Symphony, richly enhanced in a vein similar to Busoni’s Super Carmen. Stravinsky’s Firebird follows, in Guido Agosti’s virtuosic arrangement, and then Leonard Borwick’s atmospheric resetting of Debussy’s Prélude à L’après-midi d’un faune. Steuermann’s incredibly difficult transcription of Schoenberg’s Kammer-symphonie, Op. 9 closes the disc, a work that extends tonality and human dexterity to its furthest limits, and one which spelled modernity to its contemporaries and particularly the disciples of the Second Viennese School, and in this transcription, clearly foreshadows Berg’s Sonata to come. An artist famous for Tango and Jazz, a frequent collaborator with Japanese traditional singers, and the performer of the Final Fantasy X. XIII videogame soundtracks, Aki Kuroda continues to expand her pianistic horizons to now include the novel tone pallets and expansive sound-space of modern orchestral writing, in the process, bringing us intriguingly into closer proximity to the composer, and to the act of composing itself.

Booklet in English, Italian, and German.
Program notes by Hugh Collins Rice.

Reviews

“Kuroda certainly has the fingers to cope with all four [works].”
The Guardian – Andrew Clements / 12 June 2014

“Aki Koruda’s introduction to the latter is wondrous, Stravinsky’s horn melody stealing in over an immaculately realised tremolando… Kuroda’s fearless precision pays huge dividends in such mercurial music…”
The Arts Desk – Graham Rickson / 9 August 2014

“… very good piano playing. The most interesting part is Schoenberg’s first chamber symphony transcribed by Eduard Steuermann… The pianist’s virtuosity is undoubted… for pianists in quest of rare repertoire.”
Words and Music: ‘Study Leave’ – Rick Jones / 10 December 2013

“ The playing of any one of these pieces is excellent, replete with vivid technique and sensitivity as expected from this pianist; worth listening to from start to finish.”
Record Geijutsu - Aki Hamada / 2015

FIVE STARS
“In Kuroda’s brilliant hands Stravinsky’s Firebird and Debussy’s L’après-midi sound natural on piano, and even Mahler’s string Adagietto works. Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No.1 feels new.”
BBC Music Magazine - Michael Church/ January 2015

“Aki Kuroda… transforms the music into a vessel of pianistic virtuosity.”
Fono Forum - Giselher Schubert / 17 June 2015