Album review: George King, Jubilees (Odradek)

Perhaps better known for his jazz work, George King here offers a quartet of six-part suites of 21st-century solo piano music: testing compositions by Magnus Lindberg, Philip Cashian, George Benjamin and King himself. Lindberg's “Piano Jubilees” are short pieces unified by a balance between complexity and transparency, while Cashian's “Six pieces after paintings by Ben Hartley” brilliantly captures the quirky, naive spirit of the artist's work. Benjamin's “Shadowlines” offers a range of virtuoso techniques and stylings; as, too, does King's “6 Piano Études”, from the hypnotic tranquility of the 4th Étude and the Feldman-esque stillness of the 5th Étude to the writhing runs of the 6th Étude's torrential hubbub.

Download: 6 Piano Études; Six pieces after paintings by Ben Hartley; Shadowlines; Piano Jubilees