Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
In the early 1990s, a young pianist named Awadagin Pratt began racking up awards. He signed with a marquee label and recorded albums of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWADAGIN PRATT PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S "PIANO SONATA NO. 7 IN D, OP. 10 NO. 3 - 1. PRESTO")
SHAPIRO: But it's been 12 years since Pratt's last album, and now he's back - this time with brand new commissions from top composers - and NPR's Tom Huizenga has been listening.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWADAGIN PRATT PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S "PIANO SONATA NO. 7 IN D, OP. 10 NO. 3 - 1. PRESTO")
TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE: The long wait for Awadagin Pratt's new album, "Stillpoint," has been worth it. He could have easily popped into a recording studio with a few warhorse favorites and - voila. But no, the new album has been carefully thought out. Pratt handed six composers a few lines about dance from his favorite T.S. Eliot poem, "Burnt Norton," as a jumping-off point. And beginning with its opening notes, "Stillpoint" takes flight.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWADAGIN PRATT PERFORMANCE OF JESSIE MONTGOMERY'S "ROUNDS")
HUIZENGA: That's called "Rounds" by Jessie Montgomery, a mini piano concerto supporting new harmonies within old structures. Pratt and the composers on the album are exploring the tension between motion and stillness found in T.S. Eliot's verses. Composer Tyshawn Sorey took that idea and distilled it into something untethered. The wispy voices of the ensemble Roomful Of Teeth and Pratt's lonely tolling piano call to mind the vast quiet spaces of Morton Feldman.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNTITLED COMPOSITION FOR PIANO AND EIGHT VOICES")
ROOMFUL OF TEETH: (Vocalizing).
HUIZENGA: Composer Paola Prestini took the T.S. Eliot prompt one step further, digging into intimate letters the poet wrote to a schoolteacher. Ultimately, Eliot refuted his feelings, but Prestini's piece "Code" explores the unknowable space between avowal and denial and, in its final moments, bursts open in beauty.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CODE")
ROOMFUL OF TEETH: (Vocalizing).
HUIZENGA: Awadagin Pratt is a triple threat. The Pittsburgh native earned degrees in piano, violin and conducting. His career launched after winning the 1992 Naumburg International Piano Competition. In the center of his new album, Pratt offers a solo piano piece by Peteris Vasks. Here, the inspiration comes not only from Eliot, but a 16th century nun. The music reveals a kind of still point between spiritual and intellectual ecstasy, and Pratt makes the music burn whether it's agitated or tranquil.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWADAGIN PRATT PERFORMANCE OF PETERIS VASKS' "CASTILLO INTERIOR")
HUIZENGA: Like Vasks, composer Alvin Singleton is an elder statesman. The 82-year-old's contribution called "Time Past, Time Future" toys with the elasticity of time. The eclectic music reaches for pop, jazz and a bit of Bach.
(SOUNDBITE OF AWADAGIN PRATT PERFORMANCE OF ALVIN SINGLETON'S "TIME PAST, TIME FUTURE")
HUIZENGA: The album closes with another pint-sized piano concerto - this time by Judd Greenstein, who alternates turbulent outbursts with quieter rippling passages.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STILL POINT")
ROOMFUL OF TEETH: (Vocalizing).
HUIZENGA: Six distinct new pieces on this album - each trying to teach us how to balance contradictions in our lives to find the still point - that's an engaging album. Let's hope we don't have to wait 12 years for the next one.
SHAPIRO: The album is called "Stillpoint" by Awadagin Pratt. Our reviewer is NPR's Tom Huizenga.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.