• Main Performer: Fabián Panisello
• Languages of Booklet Text: English, French, German, Spanish
• Languages of Libertto: Spanish

Review

Consisting of recordings made over nine years, Fabián Panisello: A Portrait presents eight compositions by the Argentinean composer, representing not only works for keyboard, but also chamber, vocal, and orchestral music. A student of Elliott Carter and Brian Ferneyhough, Panisello is a committed avant-garde composer with rather complicated, cerebral methods; yet his music has an undeniable appeal to adventurous listeners, due to its brilliant instrumental colors, lively rhythmic interplay, and coherent rhetoric, which, though often broken up in myriad rapid-fire bits, is consistent and intelligible. In the Trio II (1996), Moods II (2001), and Presencias Transparentes, I and II (1990-1991), Panisello's music is intensely active and energetic, and his language is plainly that of the "maximalist" line of thought, similar in many ways to Ferneyhough's dense, hyperactive pieces. Panisello's feeling for ensemble writing allows him to make this abundance of musical information click, though he is less successful in his piano works, Fulgurar (1997) and I don't feel low (1999), which resemble many other loud modernist keyboard essays that clatter about without much point. An exception to this is the placid Japanese Pictures (1999), which is the most accessible piece here for its general sparseness, restrained dynamics, delicate gestures, and evocative harmonies. The least satisfying work, though, is the group of songs, Cuatro Poemas de Alejandra Pizarnik (1995), which Panisello composed in an unpleasant and ungratifying style, fracturing the verses almost to the point of being undecipherable, and overlapping the mezzo-soprano and viola parts so they virtually cancel each other out. The performances by Plural Ensemble and Ensemble Varianti are committed and well-rehearsed, under the direction of the composer, and Col Legno's sound is fairly even and balanced, considering that several of these recordings were live. ~ Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Fabián Panisello	Trio 2, for violin, cello & piano	9:17
Fabián Panisello	Japanese Pictures, for piano	5:38
Fabián Panisello	Moods 2, for chamber orchestra & piano obbligato	12:26
Fabián Panisello	Fulgurar, for piano	7:09
Fabián Panisello	Presencias Transparentes 1, for chamber orchestra	6:28
Fabián Panisello	Presencias Transparentes 2, for chamber orchestra	6:57
Fabián Panisello	I don't feel low, for piano	7:03
Fabián Panisello	Cuatro Poemas de Alejandra Pizarnik, for voice, viola & piano	10:36