CD REVIEW - Reminiscence
TOMONO KAWAMURA
divine art DDX 21116 [63:28]

Here is another collectable release from the small enterprising independent recording company founded just 30 years ago. It is a fine personal selection of 16 tracks from a celebrated Japan born soloist, who at the age of three started her piano studies at the Yamaha Music School and made her orchestral debut as a soloist at age 15.

Since then, she has won a number of competitions and was awarded a scholarship to study at London's Royal Academy of Music. In recent years she has appeared internationally, including in the UK at such as London's famed Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and The Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh. Some may also have seen her perform if they have been fortunate enough to go on a luxury sea cruise. Words like "grace" and "clarity" have been used to describe her playing.

Recognisable – by sound if not always by title – tuneful pieces are Brahms' Hungarian Dance No.6 and Waltz Op. 39 No.5, some Chopin Etudes, Rachmaninoff's Prélude in G minor: Alla Marcia, Debussy's Clair de lune and a dazzlingly powerful Grieg In the Hall of the Mountain King. The recording throughout the disc engineered by Kit Venables almost puts the piano in the room with you.

The album opens with a reflective Autumn Song from Tchaikovsky's 'The Seasons' and also includes a short attractive Etude by Sibelius, a remarkable 7'46" set of Variations composed by Kawamura at age 12 and a rather jolly Scarlatti Sonata. Caccini / T. Yoshimatsu's Ave Maria completes what is a refreshing album of largely lightish passionately played keyboard works strongly recommended a hearing.

© Peter Burt, November 2024