KLASSIC.COM – review by Dr. Kai Marius Schabram, published on 09.09.2024
The Kairos label has released a superb album of piano music and soundtracks by the Franco-Polish composer Pierre Jodlowski.
Confronting contemporary music can sometimes prove quite demanding. It is not uncommon for the pieces and/or the conceptual ideas, aesthetics, etc. underlying them to appear cumbersome or even inaccessible, which understandably increases the skepticism of many people who are nonetheless fundamentally interested in music, and leads to rather reserved reactions toward the compositional productions of our time.
However, anyone who ventures toward the present CD, released in 2024 on the Kairos label and devoted to works for piano and soundtracks by the Franco-Polish composer, performer, and multimedia artist Pierre Jodlowski (*1971), will, in the critic’s view, find multiple sources of satisfaction. Indeed, what Jodlowski offers in his series of Couleurs, created between 2005 and 2022, ranks among the most interesting contemporary music releases of recent times.
With his six pieces for piano, Jodlowski first presents works that are musically captivating, as they are extremely rich stylistically and conceptually, each reflecting its own formal dramaturgy. The palette of styles, techniques, timbres, and formal dynamics fascinates almost at every moment, so that listening to these works feels remarkably vivid. (Which, as noted, is by no means self-evident in contemporary music.) We learn from the very well-written program notes that each “of the piano pieces in the series […] is inspired by a color that symbolizes a particular image. This image may be a film, a work of art (painting), or even a mental state linked to a certain mood evoked, for example, by a reading or a visit to a museum.” Jodlowski conceives his works in a decidedly narrative way, and the skillful integration of various soundtracks (voice excerpts, everyday noises, etc.) helps him shape these sometimes lengthy pieces (7 to 18 minutes) into genuine sound stories, taut and structured by carefully calculated climaxes. This is a great lesson in composition, in which the piano constantly appears in renewed functions. At times it dominates the sound scene, at times it comments on the noise-based environment, at times it deliberately withdraws and acts as a kind of accompanying music.
The remarkable impact of these works, very heterogeneous in character, also rests on the exceptional art of interpretation by Małgorzata Walentynowicz (*1979). The Polish pianist has collaborated intensively with Jodlowski for many years. It was she who suggested gathering these initially autonomous pieces on the CD into a cycle (in fact not yet completed). What Walentynowicz achieves at the piano, both technically and emotionally, is simply astonishing. Her pianistic interaction with the numerous soundtracks regularly provokes amazement. Two artists meet here in an ideal synthesis, to celebrate great contemporary music.
The recording is therefore recommended in every respect. The critic sincerely hopes that this discographic work will find the largest possible audience — something both the composer and the pianist would richly deserve.
