Bruce Levingston - Heavy Sleep (2015) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Heavy Sleep
02. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727
03. Prelude in B Minor, BWV 544
04. The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 869
05. The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Fugue No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 869
06. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: Fantasia
07. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: Fugue
08. Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106
09. El male rachamim: I. God, Full of Mercy
10. El male rachamim: II. I, Who Pluck Flowers from the Hilltops
11. El male rachamim: III. I, Who Brought Corpses from the Mountains
12. El male rachamim: IV. I, Who Use but a Tiny Portion of the Words in the Dictionary
13. El male rachamim: V. I, Who Am Forced to Decipher the Riddles

The stated aims of this release by pianist Bruce Levingston are a little obscure. He writes that each piece "relates either directly or spiritually to the theme of death, rebirth, or both," and that "together, these works offer a touching perspective on the close spiritual connectivity we all share as artists and as human beings ...." Those two things aren't really connected with each other, nor with the album title, Heavy Sleep, the name of the curtain-raiser by American composer Timo Andres. Yet once listeners get past the abstractions and into the music, things are fine. The arresting little Andres nocturne and the final El Male Rachamim of American Mohammed Fairouz, a tribute to György Ligeti, surround a group of Bach pieces, three of them arranged (one of them by Kurtág). This combination seems odd, but this is an old-fashioned Bach piano recital with a frame that imparts to the music a very dreamy mood, making Bach seem almost an impressionist while giving a good deal of weight to a pair of interesting contemporary compositions. This is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and the unvarying mood might induce the phenomenon named in the title among unsympathetic listeners. But the album has an X factor of sheer originality working in its favor, and the studio sound from the adventurous American label Sono Luminus is ideally suited to what Levingston is trying to accomplish.

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