For Arvo

ラトヴィアのピアニストが、アルヴォ・ペルト90歳を祝うDGデビュー・アルバム

国際的な音楽シーンで最高峰の地位を築いた最初のバルト三国(ラトビア)出身のピアニストであるゲオルギス・オソーキンスのDGデビュー・アルバム『For Arvo』。極めて個人的で表現力のある視点に立った演奏を繰り広げるオソーキンスが取り組んだのは、アルヴォ・ペルトのピアノ独奏作品を集めた究極のコレクションです。2025年に90歳を迎えるこのエストニアの作曲家へのトリビュートとして、オソーキンスはそれらの霊的で深く心を打つ作品を爽やかに溌剌と演奏しています。100年前の「ブルー・スタインウェイ」で録音され、心奪われる倍音の広がりと並外れた音の深みが明らかにされました。一つ一つの作品がそれぞれの物語を伝え、誰もが共感する感情が呼び起こされるこのアルバムは単なる音楽体験ではなく、魂への深い旅となっています。

ゲオルギス・オソーキンスは1995年、リガ生まれ。ニューヨークのジュリアード音楽院、デュッセルドルフのロベルト・シューマン音楽大学などで研鑽を積み、ギドン・クレーメル、ダニエル・バレンボイム、クリストフ・エッシェンバッハといった世界的なアーティストたちと交流しました。2015年、19歳の時にショパン国際ピアノ・コンクールのファイナリストとなり、国際的な注目を集め、世界各地のコンサートホールで演奏を行いました。ラトビアの最高音楽賞「ラトビア音楽大賞」も受賞しています。

「このアルバムは、アルヴォと彼の音楽に対する私の愛の表明です」(ゲオルギス・オソーキンス)
※180g重量盤、Gatefold仕様
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Arvo Part is the worlds most often heard classical composer; he trades that position numerically with John Williams, but does not, as Williams does, exist on the border between classical and another genre. His 90th birthday in 2025 has stimulated the release of some interesting albums, and this one made classical best-seller lists in the late summer of that year. One might not associate the percussive piano with the delicate shades of Parts minimalist ensemble music, but pianist Georijs Osokins here (or the good marketing folks at Deutsche Grammophon) asserts that he wants to explore "the hidden relations between different pieces in Parts piano output." Thus, along with Parts actual compositions for piano, from the early part of his career, he plays transcriptions of several of Parts minimalist classics, namely Fratres, Pari intervallo, and Fur Alina. The whole is performed on a century-old blue Steinway piano. This addresses a million-dollar (or Euro) question about Parts music. Are there "hidden relations" between the early Part and his minimalist language? That language was unveiled after a period of compositional silence lasting for some years, and to assert some kind of continuity tends to underestimate the difficulty a composer had during those days in breaking away from serialism on one hand and Soviet socialist realism on the other. Yet there are good reasons to consider Osokins argument here. One is that the pianist is a mentee of Latvian violin and conducting great Gidon Kremer, who was one of the people who championed Parts music in the first place; when an associate of Kremer makes such an argument, one should take it seriously. Another strong point is that while the minimalist pieces sound unusual on a piano, the distinctive shade of Osokins Steinway seems of a piece with that of Parts orchestral works, which he himself transcribed for various instruments. A third attraction is simply the early music itself, most of which is rarely heard. The two Sonatinas for piano, Op. 1, and the Partita, Op. 2, are neoclassical in shape but atonal in language, prime examples of Parts early modernist style. The other early pieces reflect further styles in the air at the time. Part, like Shostakovich, wrote a good deal of film music, and pieces like the Vier leichte Tanzstucke reflect influences from Shostakovich and Bartok. They are simple works but have an originality that sticks in the head. The end result is a collection of great interest to those who love Parts music, and it makes an interesting argument pertaining to the composers output as a whole. ~ James Manheim