Piano Phase Project: Sound Meditation
Ulysses Arts

By CD standards, Piano Phase Project's Sound Meditation could have been considerably longer than its thirty-eight minutes. Yet there's something to be said for concision and the idea of leaving listeners wanting more, not less. Further to that, the music pianists Monika Lozinskiene and Anna Szalucka present is so exquisite, the release feels like nothing more's needed. Three pieces are performed using a four-hands set-up, iconic works by Ravel and Debussy and an arrangement by the duo of a symphonic poem by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis. As contrasting as the works are, they share certain properties in their exploration of the wonders of childhood and the mysteries of nature. Their refined, introspective, and texturally lustrous characters make these settings naturally complementary too.

Lozinskiene and Szalucka energize their collaboration with individual projects. Whereas the former is a co-founder of the international piano festival Kaunas Piano Fest and curates the online platform Piano Buffs, the latter is a chamber music lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music and has issued albums with labels such as October House Records and Naxos. Together, they've appeared at St. Martin in the Fields and the Bloomsbury Festival and last year toured Scotland as laureates of the Tunnel Trust Award. While Sound Meditation is an example of pure acoustic pianism, the two aren't averse to expanding on that presentation, as a recent arrangement of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring for piano four-hands, percussion, and dance attests. More generally, Piano Phase Project is founded on the idea of collaborating with other artists on unique projects in addition to creating original piano arrangements.

Pianists can't go wrong in selecting Ma Mère L'Oye from Ravel's oeuvre when the piece is so richly evocative and textured; that it lends itself so magnificently to a four-hands treatment makes it an all the more ideal choice for the piano duo. A fifteen-minute, suite-like version of the work is presented here, with five enchanting movements offering a representative portrait. Composed between 1908 and 1910 and inspired by beloved fairy tales from 1695, the music is distinguished by purity of expression and sophistication. As much as its content is associated with childhood, the work includes some of Ravel's most deeply moving music, and its spiritually uplifting effect is surely one of the major reasons for its staying power. The pianists ease us into the work with the hushed “Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant: Lent,” their rendering unhurried and magnifying the tenderness of the music. Delicately executed, “Petit Poucet: Très modéré” perpetuates the quiet beauty of the opening part, while “Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes: Mouvement de Marche” offsets nimble dance patterns and shimmering flourishes with brooding reflection. The dance element carries over into the lilting waltz gestures of “Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête: Mouvement de Valse” (with a few moments of macabre grotesquerie folded in), after which “Le jardin féerique: Lent et grave” ushers the work to a transcendent finish. Note the lovely little sprinkles the one pianist plays to animate the slow build of the melody to its majestic resolution.

Following Ma Mère L'Oye is Debussy's four-part Petite Suite (1889), which was fashioned with amateur performers in mind to allow young musicians and budding piano partners to experience the joy of playing. Don't be fooled, however: while the material might not demand the highest levels of technical virtuosity for it to be performed, Petite Suite and Ma Mère L'Oye involve mastery of a different yet equally important kind, the ability to illuminate music with nuance, elegance, and emotional gravity. Whereas a gently rocking pulse lends buoyancy to “En bateau: Andantino” and a rapid tempo and radiant tone vitalize “Cortège: Moderato,” the pace slows for the cantabile “Menuet: Moderato” before energy reinstates itself for the rousing “Ballet: Allegro giusto.” The pianists' sensitive attention to tempo and dynamics does much to elevate the impact of the performance.

September 2025