Satoko Fujii - Myra Melford: Katarahi

On Katarahi, pianists Satoko Fujii and Myra Melford revel not in contrasts but in empathy. Although no longer the novelty they once were, piano duets exist in a rarefied plain. For a start, few venues or studios possess two high-quality grand pianos. Then the widescreen potential of the piano, with its possibilities for voices in each hand, throws down a challenge to would-be collaborators: can you do something more worthwhile together than you could do individually? Fujii and Melford answer this question with a resounding Yes! They have history in the format—one previous album (Under The Water (Libra, 2007)) and multiple joint concerts over the years. They use that experience to the full.

Unlike most single instrument duets, where it is customary to say who plays in which channel, Fujii and Melford intentionally withhold that information. Furthermore, they switched pianos during the concert, which furnished the recording. Astute listeners might discern characteristic signs of one or the other from time to time, but their decision puts the emphasis firmly on the collective sound. Both contribute material, some specially written for this combination, which encourages spirited symbiosis and richly colored extrapolations that spin dangerously out from more consonant passages. Indeed, sometimes any notation remains elusive, present more in the concept than any precise rendition.

In Japanese, "Katarahi" means a heart-to-heart conversation between intimate friends, but this dialogue ranges especially deeply and widely, one pushing the other ever further from the initial topic. So although the intersecting ripples and loose romantic synchronicity of "Interlude I" result in a lyrical start to the recital, they rarely prolong such moods. "Signpost" passes in a welter of recurrent phrases, passed between them in different guises, in call-and-response pattern at first, then a fugue-like overlapping, all the while harboring sweeping digressions into the bottom end.

While "Pairs" begins with one under the bonnet, extracting a buzzing hum from the wires as the other punctuates with glancing clipped notes, they don't shy away from working in the same areas, as the clanking exchanges of dampened notes and Morse-coded iterations at the outset of "Kaiwa" make clear. Sparks fly again in "IV" which alternates between somber chords and thunderous interludes. The rampaging drive and subsequent mayhem of "From Sometime" brings the set to a resounding conclusion, one deservedly reaping enthusiastic applause from a hitherto unsuspected audience.