Peter Lawson - American Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2: Griffes, Sessions & Ives (2021)

American Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2, in EMI Classics' American Classics series represents the third time around for these 1991 recordings by English pianist Peter Lawson; first as a single disc on Virgin in 1993; then combined with its companion volume in a 2-for-1 package, also on Virgin, in 2001; and as a single disc again on EMI in 2008. Lawson teaches at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester and is a well-known concert artist in the U.K. noted for his interest in contemporary American repertoire, and this disc contains three of the biggies -- Charles Tomlinson Griffes' valedictory Piano Sonata (1919), Roger Sessions' taut and compact Second Sonata (1946), and Charles Ives' sprawling, ragtime-influenced Piano Sonata No. 1 (1901-1909). Firstly, the performance of the Sessions is great; it is exactly as Sessions envisaged it, rolling along full speed ahead in the fast movements with an inexorable intensity, yet with crystal clear projection of Sessions' dissonant polyphony. The contrasting Lento, however, is appropriately muted and transparent. Lawson's need for speed, however, slightly compromises what might have been primacy in the Griffes and Ives. Lawson takes the Griffes -- estimated by the composer at 20 minutes -- in only 17 and a half, and the Ives in 39 and a half, though some other recordings are still shorter than this, often by virtue of omitting passages; a truly responsible reading of the Harrison edition generally takes it to about 41 minutes.

One aspect of Lawson's performance style pointed out by reviewers in the U.K. is that he has a way of covering penetrating dissonances in music he interprets that it takes the sting out of them. This is true, and if the listener is one who'd like to know such music better, but has a low threshold for dissonance, then Peter Lawson is probably the player of choice in these works, no matter what the pace. However, if one prefers more patience and flexibility in the Griffes, or more crunch in the Ives, then other options might be more viable, though Lawson remains still authoritative in the Sessions sonata. Overall, from a sheer standpoint of technical virtuosity, Lawson has that in spades and there is never a dull moment in EMI Classics' American Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis