Tamara Stefanovich’s latest album, Organised Delirium, takes its title from a phrase originally used by writer Antonin Artaud, which was frequently cited by Pierre Boulez to describe his early works. The phrase is particularly relevant to Boulez’s Second Piano Sonata (1947-48), which serves as the focal point of this striking release.
Stefanovich, having studied the sonata under Boulez, delivers a performance marked by total command and authority. While her mastery of the piece’s extreme technical demands is evident, it is her ability to shape and direct the turbulence of the outer movements—clarifying their intricate counterpoint—that makes her interpretation exceptional. Boulez once described the sonata as having an “explosive, disintegrating and dispersive character” and acknowledged that its first movement was an attempt to dismantle traditional sonata form. However, Stefanovich reveals the underlying passion within the dense textures, highlighting the tension between expressiveness and technical precision more effectively than in any other available recording.
Among the three other 20th-century sonatas included in the collection—all composed in the 1920s—Bartók’s Piano Sonata stands out as the one most closely matching Boulez’s in stature and intensity. Hanns Eisler’s Piano Sonata No. 1, written in 1923 at the conclusion of his studies with Schoenberg, is designated as his Opus 1. The composition oscillates between free atonality and chromaticism, resisting a complete departure from tonality. The sonata’s sharp, brittle textures bear similarities to Shostakovich’s First Sonata (1926), a work that marked his initial engagement with modernist influences.
Stefanovich approaches both the Eisler and Shostakovich sonatas with remarkable athleticism and clarity, further reinforcing the album’s technical brilliance. As a final touch, she concludes this impressive collection with Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in B minor, K87—a serene and exquisite contrast to the preceding intensity.
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