David Rakowski (b. 1958)

Persistent Memory (1996-97)
Piano Concerto (2006-06)
Winged Contraption (1991)

Marilyn Nonken, piano and toy piano

Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose

In the works on this recording, inspired by the near-limitless resources of the orchestra, Rakowski defines himself as not only a master of the small form but a brilliant musical dramatist, colorist, and craftsman. Not mere divertissements, Winged Contraption, Persistent Memory, and the Piano Concerto are profound compositions, architecturally complex and dramatically ambitious. Embracing the traditional connotations of the word, these are "serious" concert works. The Piano Concerto is not an ironic take on the form but a thoughtful exploration of a structure and its possibilities, in which the progress of rogue elements is traced from one movement to the next. Winged Contraption, like Ravel's Bolero, is a study in which the composer chose to work within a highly constrained set of conditions. Dating from a period of personal and creative turmoil, the first movement of Persistent Memory features some of the composer's most soulful writing. Yet even in their most contemplative moments, the spirit of play in the works is palpable. Even the quietest passages reveal Rakowski's fascination with performance virtuosity and compositional sleight-of-hand. If these elements don't announce themselves with a wink and a nudge, we still hear in them the delight that Rakowski takes in writing.

- Marilyn Nonken