A decade before he was suspiciously killed in December, 1981 by a hit-and-run driver, Cornelius Cardew renounced the avant-garde aesthetic of Cage and Stockhausen that helped shape his formative years in favor of writing music based on traditional and political songs, primarily for solo piano. The music was cast in an accessible, largely tonal style aimed toward drawing in wider audiences while addressing the libertarian, anti-imperialist political ideas close to his heart and mind. We Sing for the Future, Cardew’s final work for piano, essentially encompasses a set of extroverted, virtuosic variations that suggest a chestbeating orchestra gone upliftingly beserk, culminating in a heaven-storming coda. The earlier Thälmann Variations embody a wider textural and dramatic range. There’s one lovely variation based on quiet, steady left-hand chord patterns built around a common tone, plus lyrical episodes where the theme is simply embellished and sparsely harmonized. Faster variations employ petulant, booming chords at both ends of the keyboard and darting, jagged intervals that feel more like Stockhausen/Boulez than they actually sound. Galloping, obsessive late-Beethoven-early-Schumann imitative writing also figures in Cardew’s determindly eclectic yet hardly faceless game plan.
If you know Frederic Rzewski’s equally demanding, politically oriented piano works such as The People United Will Never Be Defeated and the Four North American Ballads, you’ll discover Cardew to be a kindred soul. Rzewski often has acknowledged Cardew’s influence on his musical, aesthetic, and political thinking, and I’m certain Rzewski influenced Cardew back. As a pianist, Rzewski’s fierce yet flexible rhythm, scintillating fingers, and immense personality make these works vividly alive and meaningful. His improvised cadenzas toward the end of We Sing for the Future jack up the expressive stakes several notches. My only criticism concerns the dry, pingy engineering, lacking the resonance and body this music needs. Having heard Rzewski dozens of times live, I can attest that his sonority is fuller, more lustrous, and more vibrant than this recording suggests. That aside, this is a treasurable and important release. Composer/pianist John Tilbury provides excellent, informative annotations.
