Haratiu Radulescu: Complete Pno Works 1968-2007 [CD]

In September 2026, Metier Records presents an outstanding contemporary release - thecomplete acknowledged output for solo piano by Romanian composer Horatiu Radulescu,performed by premier Metier artist Ian Pace, a world-renowned interpreter of new music. Paceknew and worked closely with Radulescu for two decades and gave the world premiere of thePiano Sonata No. 6, specially written for him. The 2-CD set includes authoritative recordings ofall six piano sonatas plus Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti (1967) and The Origin p (1999), and anexcellent, extensive article on these works by Ian Pace in the booklet notes.Horatiu Radulescu was the leading figure in the field of Romanian spectral music, which derivesmassive, overwhelming sound masses from the very basics of harmonic spectra. In the secondhalf of his career, he combined this with Romanian folk music and Byzantine chant, often instartling contrapuntal combinations employing techniques developed during the EuropeanRenaissance.The first Piano Sonata 'Wiege an den Abgrunden/Cradle to Abysses' (1968) from his early studentdays in Bucharest alludes to Liszt's final Symphonic Poem and features dramatic and austeremusic evoking a multitude of 'Abysses'.The remaining five are all closely linked and collectively known as the Lao Tzu Sonatas, inspiredby the Taoist philosopher. Their chant-like or folk-derived materials are continually juxtaposedwith more abstract spectral harmonies, derived in part from Radulescu's earlier idiom. Theyretain traces of song, ritual, and dance, but they are also transformed into something larger:continuous bodies of resonance, rhythm, and colour. The Second Sonata, 'being and non-beingcreate each other' (1991), composed 23 years after the first, is viewed as ushering in Radulescu's'second period'. The Third Sonata, 'you will endure forever' (1992, rev. 1999), the largest of thesix, is the first of Radulescu's piano works to draw explicitly upon pre-existing musical materials,specifically Byzantine chant. In the Fourth Sonata, 'like a well older than God' (1993),Radulescu makes prominent use of three different Romanian Christmas carols, all originallycollected and set by Bartok. The Fifth Sonata, 'settle your dust, this is the primal identity' (2003)employs a wide range of Romanian folk melodies. The Sixth Sonata, 'return to the source of light'(2007), was Radulescu's last completed work, and premiered by Ian Pace.Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti (1967) from the composer's student days in Bucharest displaysmany aspects of post-war modernism and connects to the scale and performing features ofScarlatti's keyboard music. The piano piece The Origin p (1999) is Radulescu at his mostuncompromising with what he calls 'spectral resonance' created by metal bars holding down allblack notes and most white ones.Radulescu was born in Bucharest and studied violin with Enescu pupil Nina Alexandrescu at theBucharest Academy. During this period, a shift came about from the dominant neo-classicalstyle towards a greater engagement with European modernism. Radulescu graduated in 1969and went to Paris, taking French citizenship in 1974. After this, like other emigre Romaniancomposers, his music was barely played at all during the remainder of the communist era.