18 miniatures

In the Delos release Giya Kancheli: 18 Miniatures & Middelheim (DE 3589) violinist Piet Koornhof is joined by pianist Albie van Schalkwyk and cellist Susan Mouton. The results are excellent.

The album’s 18 miniatures are among the composer’s favorites, drawn from a treasure trove of lighthearted, often humorous, and occasionally sentimental compositions, whereas Middleheim – more assertively serious in tone – represents the composer’s gratitude to the medical staff of the hospital of the same name in Antwerp where he was brought back from the brink of death.

Kancheli’s music, as feelingly and elegantly played by Koornhof, van Schalkwyk, and Mouton inhabits a world that, given the credentials of the composer and his players, is neither classical nor popular but that comfortably straddles both.

Rafael de Acha © 2022