Mabel Kwan: Georg Friedrich Haas: Trois Hommages

Chicago pianist Mabel Kwan, a core member of Ensemble Dal Niente, brings a crisp, patient precision to these three solo pieces by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas, composed between 1982-84—presented here, on record for the very first time. All three works employ two separate pianos, each played with one of the performer’s hands, tuned a quarter-tone apart to produce a 24-note scale—a simultaneous embrace of an even temperament and a rejection of its limitations. Each study is dedicated to an important 20th century composer. The monumental Hommage à György Ligeti offers a pummeling exercise in rhythm; as Kwan hammers through a series of dyads and chords with forceful staccato, the harmony of the two instruments cycles through moments of clarity and dissonance. Hommage à Josef Matthias Hauer offers a dramatic shift toward the elegiac, saluting the fellow Austrian who developed a 12-tone theory just prior to Schoenberg. As the piece unfolds, elegant arpeggios gently extend from five notes at the start to eight by the climax, one section at a time, with the trickle of sounds underlining the peculiarities of the tuning, producing effects ranging from sweet to deliciously sour. (At the end, it almost sounds like Kwan is playing an inside-out boogie-woogie.) The album closes with another thrumming composition, Hommage à Steve Reich, which deftly embraces the American minimalist’s trademark exploration of polyrhythm.

-Peter Margasak, 10.30.18, Bandcamp Daily

Together, these three Hommages spread to 71 minutes and ask for a single pianist simultaneously to play two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart (each piano is in 12-note equal temperament). Online visuals show two pianos placed at right angles and Kwan positioned to reach all the ivories. We can infer – and what we hear supports this – that each hand is dedicated to a single instrument. Happily leveraging minimalist patterns, Haas has written three pieces that introduce and explore a 24-pitch microtonal universe. Ligeti, Hauer and Reich are three composers he has admired (least familiar Hauer arrived at a 12-tone theory ahead of Schoenberg). The Hommage for Ligeti is chordal, a fast and constant drumbeat as notes are picked from the 24-note gamut. It starts with the tuning system we know, then adds notes from the other keyboard to create a tangy haze. The piece for Hauer is a moderately paced constant stream of ascending scale patterns, suggesting ever so slightly WTC: I’s opening Prelude. With unexpected accents, the beat can be elusive and not just because after a few minutes another is folded in. The Reich movement offers a tapestry of moving notes in a constant pulse. The microtonal colors are bolder, the dissonant tinges suggesting passing ambulances. Repeating pitches reveal compound rhythms. We’ve encountered Kwan before as member of Ensemble Dal Niente.

-Grant Chu Covell, 11.2018, La Folia

First there is the fascinating solo work by Mabel Kwan, performing ‘Trois Hommages for two pianos (tuned a quartet-tone apart)’. A premiere recording of a work composed by Austrian composer Friedrich Haas who works in the US. Three homages, dedicated respectively to Györgi
Ligeti, Josef Matthias Hauer and Steve Reich. Written for two pianos to be played simultaneously. One by the right hand, one by the left hand. The different tuning between the two pianos is effectively used by Haas and introduces a very specific tension. Kwan is [a] Chicago-based pianist associated with ensembles Ensemble Dal Niente, Restroy, big TEEN's Mega Laverne and Shirley, and Uluuul. The first piece is a repetitive percussion-like work. With a strong drone effect. Also the second one is built with repetition as an important structuring element. This time with a short melodic phrase at the core. The third one is a strong pulsating minimalistic work. All three compositions are closely related to the same minimalistic approach. For each composition however Haas uses a phrase or element of compositions from the three composers that inspired him. Only in the case of Steve Reich I was able to recognize this. Playing these works must have been a very intensive physical exercise for Kwan. But she does a great job.

-Dolf Mulder, 12.3.18, Vital Weekly

Being so used to a group dynamic, if I was faced with a ‘piano only’ release in days gone by, I would have made my excuses and quickly headed for the door marked ‘exit’. But in the intervening years, I’ve gently eased myself into this somewhat isolated discipline by listening to the solo pianistics of Brit avant jazzers like Howard Riley and Mike Taylor; a different kettle of fish to Trois… I’ll admit… but in hindsight that was the closest I ever got. Sorry.

But to merely reduce this CD into a two thumbs, eight fingers and eighty-eight keys scenario simply won’t do. As the three pieces here, written by Austria’s leading ‘Spectralist’ composer are for one pianist playing two pianos, tuned a quarter-tone apart. The ivories are still tuned in twelve equal notes an octave, and played together, sound a twenty-four scale. A sound that’s slightly at odds with western sensibilities, in which a slight disconnect occurs that you just can’t put your finger on. Tipping the cap to a trio of leftfield composer types such as Ligeti, Reich and the lesser-known Josef Matthias Hauer, it’s a case of dilated-pupil repetition with s-l-o-w-l-y evolving changes. The longest cut, the pummelling ‘Hommage a Georg Ligeti’, clocking in at 30:06, tells us in no uncertain terms, that we are in this for the long haul. A round of sandwiches and Kendal Mint Cake might be considered as a nutritional boost should you start to flag half way in….

I guess the question on a few lips (perhaps?) is whether the interpretations of American Mabel Kwan (of Restroy and experimental three-piece Uluuul), are faithful to the intentions of Herr Haas and that’s one I can’t answer (so shoot me!), as the Spectralist canon remains a tantalisingly elusive one to yours truly. I guess there might be a clue in the genre’s name? I will say, however, that those looking for new thrills originating from hitherto unchartered territories should find something of interest here, but gentle reader, it’s not an immediate fix…

-Steve Pescott, 1.18.19, Adverse Effect Magazine

This marvelous album contains three pieces for two pianos, which are tuned a quarter tone apart—an arrangement that creates a halo of bright overtones around the insistent rhythms of a pair of pieces dedicated to György Ligeti and Steve Reich. Another composition, dedicated to Josef Matthias Hauer drifts sublimely into increasingly disorienting sonorities.

-Bill Meyer, 2.7.19, Chicago Reader

Who are you, Georg Friedrich Haas, and what are you trying to tell us? New Focus Recordings is offering this disc to us with scarcely any written information—I even had to look up the Austrian composer’s full name and birth year (1953)—although it does tell us that the work is “for two pianos (tuned a quarter-tone apart).” Either the music is expected to speak for itself, or we, in the age of the internet, are expected to do our homework. Looking online, I found, among other things, an article published in the New York Times in 2016 that addresses Haas’s BDSM relationship with his wife, a relationship in which he plays the dominant role. I mention this not just because it is titillating but also because I think it might be relevant to his music. As it says in the aforementioned article, Haas’s “exacting, virtuosic style gives a whiff of the dominant-submissive to the composer-performer relationship. The same can hold true for the composer-audience relationship, particularly in works like Mr. Haas’s third string quartet, In iij. Noct, 50 minutes performed entirely in the dark.”

You, dear reader, do not need to be similarly in the dark. Trois Hommages (1982–84) is played by one pianist on two pianos at right angles to each other. One piano is tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other, which of course has ear- and mind-bending consequences. The hommages are to György Ligeti, Josef Matthias Hauer (an Austrian composer whose work with 12-tone music slightly predated Schoenberg’s), and Steve Reich. Haas’s Hommages to Ligeti and Reich wear their allegiances on their sleeves. (I do not know Hauer’s music at all, so I am not going to comment.) Having just gotten Michael Gordon’s The Unchanging Sea out of my head (see elsewhere in this issue) I find Haas’s sound world threatening, albeit in a BDSM sort of way. I giggled at New Focus’s description of this work as “beguiling” (“agreeably or charmingly attractive or pleasing,” according to Merriam-Webster), but if you add the lexicographically acceptable nuance of deception or distraction, I suppose I can see what New Focus is getting at. Not to put too fine a point on it, Trois Hommages messes around with you. That’s OK, though. My understanding is that this is the work’s first recording, even though it seems to be played relatively often (for new music) and is more than three decades old now.

The Ligeti Hommage is notated as a series of whole-note chords, but the pianist is directed to repeat the chords as 16th notes, fading new tones in and fading others out. The tempo is approximately 96 quarter notes per minute, which translates to 384 16th-notes per minute. Do Austrian pianists have workman’s compensation? On this CD, this piece goes on for 30 minutes. (The Universal Edition score estimates 16 to 20 minutes.) The Hauer Hommage is a series of broken (“quasi arpeggio”) chords divided between the two hands/pianos and played legatissimo. This lasts 19 minutes and functions as the work’s slow movement, I imagine. Most maddening of all is the Hommage to Reich, which requires the pianist to repeat short patterns of different and evolving lengths at a blistering tempo. The interaction between the two pianos produces what sounds like a third piano. The Universal score again suggests a timing of 16 to 20 minutes. Mabel Kwan plays it in 22 minutes; I am not sure if that is a function of her tempo or of the number of repetitions she plays.

I started out skeptical and ended up convinced, even excited. This is a lot of fun, if you have a strange idea of what “fun” is. I don’t know how Kwan plays this, but I’m impressed. She is part of an ensemble called Ensemble Dal Niente which has championed Haas’s music in the past. I found a blog interview with Kwan in which she talks about this piece, and reading it would be an excellent teaser or introduction to Trois Hommages: icareifyoulisten.com/2013/02/5-questions-to-mabel-kwan-pianist/. These recordings also have been uploaded to YouTube. If you are an adventurous sort, sympathetic to process music or Minimalism, or interested in microtonality, then I have no qualms about recommending this disc to you. This could be on my Want List at the end of the year.

-Raymond Tuttle, 1.23.19, Fanfare

Being so used to a group dynamic, if I was faced with a ‘piano only’ release in days gone by, I would have made my excuses and quickly headed for the door marked ‘exit’. But in the intervening years, I’ve gently eased myself into this somewhat isolated discipline by listening to the solo pianistics of Brit avant jazzers like Howard Riley and Mike Taylor; a different kettle of fish to Trois… I’ll admit… but in hindsight that was the closest I ever got. Sorry.

But to merely reduce this CD into a two thumbs, eight fingers and eighty-eight keys scenario simply won’t do. As the three pieces here, written by Austria’s leading ‘Spectralist’ composer are for one pianist playing two pianos, tuned a quarter-tone apart. The ivories are still tuned in twelve equal notes an octave, and played together, sound a twenty-four scale. A sound that’s slightly at odds with western sensibilities, in which a slight disconnect occurs that you just can’t put your finger on. Tipping the cap to a trio of leftfield composer types such as Ligeti, Reich and the lesser-known Josef Matthias Hauer, it’s a case of dilated-pupil repetition with s-l-o-w-l-y evolving changes. The longest cut, the pummelling ‘Hommage a Georg Ligeti’, clocking in at 30:06, tells us in no uncertain terms, that we are in this for the long haul. A round of sandwiches and Kendal Mint Cake might be considered as a nutritional boost should you start to flag half way in….

I guess the question on a few lips (perhaps?) is whether the interpretations of American Mabel Kwan (of Restroy and experimental three-piece Uluuul), are faithful to the intentions of Herr Haas and that’s one I can’t answer (so shoot me!), as the Spectralist canon remains a tantalisingly elusive one to yours truly. I guess there might be a clue in the genre’s name? I will say, however, that those looking for new thrills originating from hitherto unchartered territories should find something of interest here, but gentle reader, it’s not an immediate fix…

-Steve Pescott, 1.18.19, Adverse Effect Magazine

Minimalist heads take note — this album is gold. Chicago-based keyboardist Mabel Kwan’s performance of three linked pieces by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas obtains an unbounded world of sound from two pianos tuned a quarter tone part. Haas grew up on the border of Austria and Switzerland, but don’t expect him to pay homage to his youth with music that evokes Alpen idylls. Sure, the peaks are pretty, but the mountains also keep the valleys where most people live rather dark.

These three pieces, each dedicated to a different composer who influenced him, both acknowledge and oppose the hegemony of the equal-tempered piano. The three pieces are meant to be played by one musician using two pianos. Their staggered tuning makes available sounds that lurk between the keys without ever breaking free of equal temperament. Mabel Kwan deserves not only deep respect for her determined sustenance of tempo, but a bottle of fine spirits and some re-freezable ice packs to speed her recovery from playing a set of repetitive pieces that add up to 71 minutes and change. Getting through this music without breaking down is already a hell of an accomplishment, but it goes beyond mere reproduction to create three distinct and absorbing sound experiences. One hand leads the charge on “Homage À György Ligeti,” insistently hammering a cluster of notes, and then another hand trails the first at a precise remove. Together they coax a storm of sound that writhes and churns like a towering thunderhead. Over the course of half an hour the music ascends in pitch, and as the notes get higher the cloud of overtones shrinks. It’s a “what just happened?” experience well worth repeating, and it’s not even half of the record.

The album’s second movement honors another Austrian composer, Josef Matthias Hauer (1883-1959). Hauer developed a form of 12-tone composition that preceded Arnold Schoenberg’s by a couple years, but while Schoenberg got credit for laying out the rules of serialism, Hauer’s music was barely heard outside of Vienna until after his death. Kwan opens the piece with a flourish that quickly warps into a queasy slowdown and then settles into an unsettling retraces of an ascending phrase. It’s a bit like finding yourself on the edge of a slow whirlpool, never sinking into the hole but unable to get free of its grasp. The final movement pays homage to Steve Reich. Kwan’s execution of its interlocking figures with is precise without ever feeling rigid, which causes isolated microtones to flare within the music’s matrix like a carefully choreographed fireworks display.

-Bill Meyer, 2.1.19, Dusted Magazine

Pianist Mabel Kwan is a performer of classical, improvised, and experimental music. She is fascinated by sound, contradictions, and our perceptions of what is familiar or strange. And a natural performer of Georg Friedrich Haas’ work, a contemporary Austrian composer whose style recalls that of György Ligeti in his use of micropolyphony, microintervals, and the exploitation of the overtone series. On Kwan’s 2018 album, Georg Friedrich Haas: 3 Hommages for Two Pianos (tuned a quarter-tone apart), Mabel performs three of Haas’ homages composed in the 80s: “Hommage à György Ligeti” composed in 1984, “Hommage à Josef Matthias Hauer” composed in 1982, and “Hommage à Steve Reich” composed in 1982. This is quite an interesting album of slowly evolving minimalist pieces relying on the interacting harmonics of the two pianos. The Ligeti piece lasts 30 minutes, beginning with thundering piano, rumbling sustain, and complex resonance of the strings that gradually and imperceptibly move up the keyboard octave by octave until Mabel reaches the upper limits. The Hauer piece builds on a six-note loop that slowly adds and subtracts, very similar to Brian Eno, making for gently floating music. Many years ago I bought Eno’s iPhone app Bloom which functions in much the same way, looping notes that slowly decay and allowing you to add new notes to the mix. And the Reich piece showcases the harmonic interactions of the two slightly out of tune pianos. Of this batch of new music on New Focus Recordings, I find that Georg Friedrich Haas: 3 Hommages is the most accessible album and probably the one that will appeal to our readership.

— Henry Schneider, 11.11.2020