Reviews
Kathodik Review: PIANO SONORITIES
Originally published by: Filippo Focosi, Kathodik
“If one of the most interesting and adventurous pianists of our time, namely Jeri-Mae Astolfi , is interested in your work and dedicates an entire CD to your piano repertoire, it is already in itself a signal of the value of the recording project in question.”
If one of the most interesting and adventurous pianists of our time, namely Jeri-Mae Astolfi , is interested in your work and dedicates an entire CD to your piano repertoire, it is already in itself a signal of the value of the recording project in question. A positive prejudice therefore initiated me to listen to Betty R. Wishart ‘s compositions for solo piano , and listening only confirmed these positive premises. One of the distinctive features of the language of this composer lies in the construction of rarefied sequences of chords and arpeggios that often touch the lower registers of the keyboard, producing effects of mysterious and introspective evocation: think of the Night Visions , the abstract geometries of theSonatas . The two brilliant and virtuosic Toccate act as a counterweight , while the 12 variations on an innodic theme and the short Remebrance reveal the author’s more emotional side, in the rhythmic vitality of the former as well as in the contained melancholy of the melody that runs through the latter.
-Filippo Focosi, Kathodik