Revered pianist Michael Mizrahi's sophomore album of solo piano works, Currents, brings together six impeccably performed and recorded new American piano works.
1) The Currents (Sarah Kirkland Snider)
2) Harpsichords (Troy Herion)
3) The Bright Motion Ascending (Mark Dancigers)
4) Mercurial Reveries, Mvt. I (Asha Srinivasan)
5) Mercurial Reveries, Mvt. II (Asha Srinivasan)
6) Mercurial Reveries, Mvt. III (Asha Srinivasan)
7) Mercurial Reveries, Mvt. IV (Asha Srinivasan)
8) Mercurial Reveries, Mvt. V (Asha Srinivasan)
9) Heartbreaker (Missy Mazzoli)
10) Missing Piece (Patrick Burke)
Revered pianist Michael Mizrahi's sophomore album of solo piano works, Currents, brings together six impeccably performed and recorded new American piano works. Almost all written specifically with Mizrahi’s singular sound and approach in mind, and featuring composers Sarah Kirkland Snider, Troy Herion, Mark Dancigers, Asha Srinivasan, Missy Mazzoli, and Patrick Burke. As with Mizrahi’s widely acclaimed New Amsterdam debut The Bright Motion (2012), Currents showcases the continued vitality of the piano’s exceptionally rich musical heritage while exploring its capability to express the most contemporary of musical ideas. The result is a significant addition to the solo piano repertory of the 21st century that, as the title suggests, embodies movement forward -- building on the great piano works of the past while propelling the solo piano repertoire ahead in a new and energized direction.
“['The Currents'] effectively avoids indulging emotion, favoring subtle atmospheric suggestion, true to 19th century impressionism...The piece, however, is not without its surprises... At times tempestuous, at others placid, The Currents is a force of nature—both monsoon and mild breeze.”
"Many of the pieces Phillips chose were in what could be called a neo-Impressionist idiom. This was the case in The Currents (2012) by Sarah Kirkland Snider, where a wandering melody floats over a busy, circling left-hand accompaniment reminiscent of the opening of Ravel’s Sonatine. Phillips brought grace to this evocative texture and urgency to a more fraught central episode."
“In entrancing the listener with the slow dazzle of its intertwining patterns, ['The Currents'] sets the mark high at the outset. There’s a lilting, Debussy-like flow to the material that does, in fact, suggest water movements, especially when the music fluctuates between the rapid motion visible at one stage in a river and the peaceful calm evident elsewhere…"
"[The Currents] carries the same flowing lyricism and sensitivity as Snider’s vocal music—but without any of the words. Mizrahi’s fingers swim gracefully through the ebb and flow of the piece, beautifully capturing the depth and breadth of colors that make the currents come to life.”
"The title track [The Currents]...is a real standout. It adroitly covers a wide swath of both emotional and technical terrain. Thus, it is an ideal solo vehicle..."
“The Currents” is very much a song-without-words, a distillation of the color and lyricism of [Snider's song cycles] into a melodic and idiomatic solo number.”
