Jonathan Coe: Java Dreams Album Review – Young pianist brings unflashy verve to complex works | classical music

“WWho is not a traveler in his heart? asked the Lithuanian-born American pianist and composer Leopold Godowski in the introduction to his book Java Suite, published in 1925 and in which he was inspired by what he heard and saw during a long concert tour of Southeast Asia. He intended this 50-minute journey story to be the first in a series entitled Phonoramas – Tonal Journeys for the Pianoforte, and it is a shame that he never got around to writing the others. It is a work of imaginative effort and an impressive medium for young Indonesian pianist Jonathan Ko on this, his first solo recording.

Coe is an engagingly unshowy soloist, capturing the contradictions of a work that has a Lisztian scope and yet remains somehow introspective, with a Debussy sense of sound. He has a broad vision, shaping the music into long, sweeping phrases, and imperceptibly boosting bass notes even while a lot is happening at the top of the keyboard. The first movement is inspired by the loud sounds and pentatonic harmony of the gamelan. Next, the episodes paint pictures of a moonlit Buddhist temple, scented botanical gardens, chattering monkeys, and a surprisingly elegant puppet show. Bustling street scenes send the music into an irresistible spiral, and the depiction of a sunrise over Mount Bromo volcano brings an exuberant emotional high point halfway through.

Coe pairs the suite with the three movements from Petrushka that Stravinsky arranged for Rubinstein – a pianist who declared himself jealous of Godowsky’s style. Kuo’s playing seems just a touch measured here, missing the music’s sense of abandon, but only by millimeters: it’s still a lively and compelling performance.