A two piano record built around encounters between German pianist Johanna Summer and four strictly classical pianists Claire Huangci, Danae Dörken, Kit Armstrong and Igor Levit.
Each guest performs a piece of their choosing and Summer responds in real time from a second piano. The exchanges were not pre-arranged and Summer did not know the repertoire in advance.
The discography of Huangci spans Scarlatti sonatas, Chopin nocturnes, Rachmaninov preludes, Mozart concertos and her more “Made in USA” programming, reflecting a broad stylistic reach from Bach and Beethoven through to Gershwin, Barber and Amy Beach.
Levit was named Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2020, and has performed in leading venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Musikverein.
Summer was born in 1995 in Plauen, Saxony. Classically trained from childhood before studying jazz in Dresden and Cologne, Summer first emerged with Schumann Kaleidoskop in 2020, a striking set of improvisations on themes by Robert Schumann. She is a a former member of Germany’s Bundesjazzorchester (National Youth Jazz Orchestra).
The programme on this new release draws on music by Schumann, Mikis Theodorakis, Manolis Kalomiris, Zhou Tian, Minako Tokuyama, Beethoven and Guillaume de Machaut. Summer’s own compositions and improvisations are placed alongside these works.
The overall effect is to send you to another plane entirely, one that seems beyond any one genre, recognisable up to a point but tapping a mood and sense of mystery that seems timeless and full of grace. ‘Andante Semplice’ is the track that moved me most. Write it off as just classical, at your peril.