Pianist
George Li
supplies his own booklet note for this collection of short pieces, reflecting on the ways in which they are indeed "movements," even though many of them are independent dances as well. Over the album's 75 minutes, he offers 30 short pieces, only one, the last of
Stravinsky
's
Three Movements from Petrushka
, over five minutes long. Many are much shorter, and looking at the track list, one may wonder at the task
Li
has set himself: he has to avoid the feeling of an undifferentiated blast of miniatures that could easily become annoying or monotonous. This he does, and brilliantly. As
indicates, the works all have internal connections holding them together; in
Schumann
Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6
(
plays
's second version, from which the composer expunged the "dances" term in the title), the connections come from the presence of
's two contrasting alter egos, Eusebius and Florestan.
contrasts these vividly, and his performance never descends into a rat-a-tat-tat of short impulses. There is a certain amount of virtuosity in the works by
and
Ravel
, and the level is hiked in the
without evident strain on
's part. A concert hall at the University of California at San Francisco proves an idiomatic environment for these performances, which continue to announce a talented and charismatic young performer. ~ James Manheim