Dustin O´Halloran, Lumiere (130701)text

If not exactly a new wave, then at least a ripple of young composers have, in the wake of the late HenrykGórecki´s bona fide worldwide hit Symphony #3, turned their backs on angular modernism and decided togive feeling another try.

Breaking with the twentieth century predilection for systems is in keeping with late-modern skepticismtoward all grand narratives, whether they be political, social or artistic. Instead, much like the Pre-Raphaelitepainters of the mid-19th century, these composers seek to convey meaning through the emotional contentof the very essence of their art – colour, detail, and mimesis; that is, being of nature and man rather thanobserving them at a distance.

Some have been very successful in melding emotions - all of them, including humour and sadness, joy andregret - and meaning, like Max Richter, Sylvain Chauveau, Nils Frahm, and Nico Muhly. Others have tippedtoo far over into sentimentality.

American composer Dustin O´Halloran is quite new to listeners, whom he captivated with his contributions tothe soundtrack of Sofia Coppola´s ”Marie Antoinette”. He has two solo piano collections to his credit, butneither garnered the popular approbation Lumiere has.

For his premiere recording on Fat Cat´s specialist imprint 130701 (which has also championed Richter andChauveau), O´Halloran is aided ably by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Peter Broderick, who aside from his ownfascinating, burgeoning discography has helped lift the work of brilliant young pianist Nils Frahm into thelight (who, look at that, even has a finger in here, helping out with the engineering).

O´Halloran moves lightly at the keyboard, mostly piano but also celestina and celeste, which both he andJóhannsson treat electronically with the utmost restrained delicacy, and Broderick adds some autumnalviolin, swirling round the trunk of one piano theme like gracefully falling leaves. It all comes together sosimply but so richly, like the strong colours of a Dante Gabriel Rossetti canvas, on "Fragile No. 4", which isalmost the portrait of a sensiblity.

The very end is gorgeous. Someone left the mic out in the rain. After the final notes of O´Halloran´s pianodie out, we hear the faint rustling of wind.

Attention to detail.

http://www.fat-cat.co.uk

Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 23:06, 04 Mar 2011

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