Indonesian pianist Jonathan Kuo makes an impressive debut solo recording with Godowsky’s Java Suite and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka. The album, titled Java Dreams, showcases Kuo’s appealingly unflashy style, capturing the contradictions of Godowsky’s work with Lisztian scope and Debussian introspection.
Godowsky’s Java Suite: A Tonal Journey
Leopold Godowsky, the Lithuanian-born US piano virtuoso, wrote the Java Suite in 1925 after a concert tour of south-east Asia. He intended it as the first of a series called Phonoramas – Tonal Journeys for the Pianoforte. The 50-minute travelogue is fantastically demanding, and Kuo handles it with wide, sweeping phrases, reinforcing bass notes while managing complex upper-register activity.
The first movement is inspired by gamelan sounds and pentatonic harmonies. Subsequent episodes depict a moonlit Buddhist temple, fragrant botanic gardens, chattering monkeys, and an elegant puppet show. A bustling streetscape drives the music irresistibly, and a sunrise over Mount Bromo volcano provides an exuberant emotional peak at the halfway point.
Stravinsky’s Petrushka: Measured but Persuasive
Kuo pairs the Suite with Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka, arranged for pianist Arthur Rubinstein. Rubinstein was reportedly jealous of Godowsky’s technique. Kuo’s performance feels slightly measured here, missing some rollicking abandon, but only by millimetres. It remains an exuberant and persuasive performance.
According to the review, Kuo is an appealingly unflashy soloist who captures the work’s introspective nature while maintaining Lisztian grandeur. The recording, released on Rubicon Classics, marks a significant debut for the young Indonesian pianist.
