Roderick Chadwick piano
métier mex 77123
Born in England in 1943 and having spent 12 years later in life in Australia, Edward Cowie came back to England in 1995. In 2023, he returned to Australia where he now lives.
In addition to his work as a composer, Cowie is also a respected graphic artist. He also has qualifications in physics. His wife, Heather is also an artist. Her designs often front his CDs. She was a field geologist in the past. I mention this, since all these background facts are strongly motivational in the creation of the three Piano Sonatas on this CD.
Do not be misled by the title Rock Music. It refers not to rock n’ roll music, but to piano music born out of rumination on different types of rock, rock out of which our planet is built.
Sonata No. 1, Igneous, refers to rock below the surface, born of fire and volcanic explosion. Sonata No. 2, Sedimentary, deals with rock laid down slowly over millennia. The final Sonata, Metamorphic, is a theme with twelve variations. It develops the music of the first two Sonatas, finally bringing them pleasingly together.
Cowie mentions the last three sonatas of Beethoven as one of his inspirations. With reference to the complexity, and demand for extreme piano virtuosity, delivered with considerable panache by Roderick Chadwick throughout the CD, that could be true, but Cowie’s sound world is possibly closer to Messiaen for a first-time listener.
The first Sonata uses the broadest possibilities of piano sound, including abrupt bangs from… the pedals? In addition, the use of the sustaining pedal to intensify echoes from clashing chord sounds colour the music throbbingly. Fire and volcanism certainly erupt in this Sonata (or Movement if you prefer) since Cowie likes to link the three works together as one. In Sedimentary, lines of music are overlaid in ever more complex harmonies and counterpoints. The final Sonata brings reminiscences of the earlier music. In the twelve Metamorphoses, he develops them in multicoloured ways before bringing them together satisfyingly at the close.
In no way is this ‘easy-listening’ music, a first hearing can leave you open mouthed with shock and awe, but with each new listening, you are drawn into music that is not just pictorial but because of its irresistible virtuoso impetus, is brilliantly filmic.
Review by Alan Cooper