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Maija Hynninen, Dawn Breaks. Bruckmann, Hynninen, Kärkkäinen, Kinnunen, Kuvaja, Lindeberg, Malmi, Puusepp, Raasakka, Tavi. Ravello Records, RR8021
While Maija Hynninen's first monograph album is certainly remarkable for its technical polish, in terms of both the quality of performance and in her handling of electro-acoustic composition, this collection of four pieces spanning the seven years from 2010 to 2017 is most notable, and, indeed, refreshing, for the optimism gilding much of the discourse. Despite a stated aversion to ‘the clichés of warmth and comfort in the morning’, and despite the fact that the surface rarely if ever betrays that affective sphere, Dawn Breaks is filled with a deep and abiding sense that improvement is possible. Hynninen is a Finnish composer in doctoral studies both at UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and at the University of the Arts Helsinki where she studies electro-acoustic music. Unsurprisingly, electronics feature heavily on this album; only the two shortest pieces, roughly three minutes out of 63, are purely acoustic. Ranging from a subtle but impactful tweak to the natural resonance of a piano, to the weaving of a dense texture from solo voice, these synthetically produced sounds are not merely decorative, but central to the composer's practice.
winnowing, for piano and electronics, is a new essay along the familiar trajectory of starting on the keys and working your way inside. This music is most rewarding when listening on the local level: interesting and clever segments and ideas follow on one another at a remarkable rate. Unfortunately, the pacing suffers as a result as the flow is frequently interrupted and rebooted. Stockhausen's KONTAKTE and the ninth KLAVIERSTÜCK are strong influences here. Jaana Kärkkäinen, playing with a crisp articulation on a dryly recorded piano, handles the virtuosic gestures expertly. The electronics...