Subtle Matters
Neuma, 2021
8/10
The Italian pianist Agnese Toniutti is no stranger to innovation in the area of atypical song craft, and here she offers plenty of sounds from a piano where many are not the actual keys across imaginations from 3 different composers.
Lucia Dlugoszewski’s “Exacerbated Subtlety Concert (Why Does a Woman Love a Man?) starts the listen and unfolds over 4 parts that are generally sparse, where quivering manipulation is used in often ominous and very challenging ways for timbre piano, and Tan Dun’s “C-A-G-E” follows and blends both Eastern and Western ideas into its very pitch oriented delivery that showcases fingering for piano.
The remaining tracks are all Phillip Corner selections, where “Toy Piano” is a brief look at the potential such a simple instrument can provide, while “Man In Field (The Sound As Hero)” recruits a cinematic presence as space and tension are manipulated flawlessly. “A Really Lovely Piece Made For & By Agnese” exits the listen, and settles into a poetic landscape where the key acrobatics are nothing short of stunning.
A very exciting album that nearly redefines how one interprets the piano, Toniutti’s dedication to her art is only proving to be more gripping with each subsequent project, and it be will be interesting to see what happens next.
Travels well with: Erik Griswold- Four Places In Queensland; James Caldwell- Pocket Music