Philip Glass: Complete Piano Etudes - CD

While listening to the profoundly perceptive performance by the pianist Jurgis Karnavicius of the entire cycle of 20 etudes, we move together through a shimmering, gentle landscape of changing light: there is a special peace in his playing that does not mean stagnation; rather, it is a slow, deep process, similar to the movement of light through the space of a room when morning is just breaking. This music creates the impression that the pianist becomes a mediator between two silences - the silence that was before the first note, and the silence that will remain after it fades. Thus, the etudes here take on not only the form of sound, but also a slow, plastic movement that continues long after the hands lift from the keys. Some etudes fly with an inexorable driving force, their rhythms echoing human steps, heartbeats, a kind of internal engine. Others unfold like meditations, stretching time until it almost evaporates. A portrait of Philip Glass emerges, not just as a minimalist icon or a composer of large-scale works, but as an artist who understands the true value of simplicity, and invites us to listen with openness and wonder. And perhaps the etudes on this lovingly realised recording will become, for someone, that unforgettable, life-transforming encounter with Philip Glass's music.-Laura Karnaviciute