Mahan Esfahani - Musique? (2020)

Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has often played Baroque music but later became interested in the writings of John Cage and programmed various works of a more or less experimental nature, and this release offers a sampling. Modern harpsichord music is distinctive in that the instrument connotes styles of the past even as new sounds are under experimentation, and Esfahani chooses works that explore this tension intelligently. The only neo-Baroque work of the group is Henry Cowell's Set of Four, and even that pushes the definition, but in all of the works, the sound world of the Baroque is present. Where electronics are included, as in Kaija Saariaho's Jardin secret II, that world may form a contrast with the electronic elements, as is also suggested by the title of Anahita Abbasi's Intertwined distances. Even in Luc Ferrari's Programme commun - Musique socialiste?, the Bachian legacy is present in the virtuoso harpsichord stacks. The performances by Esfahani have all the intensity of his work in Baroque music, and in general, the album represents a new direction in contemporary harpsichord music, diverging from but not free of Baroque influences.