My Treasure Box

Japanese people know this well, but perhaps not all international readers are familiar with, or acquainted with, this beautiful Japanese custom. A very special place in a traditional Japanese house is the "corner of beautiful things", tokonoma in the local language. It is the center of the house and the room, and a small selection of artistic and/or natural masterpieces are displayed there (incidentally, the distinction between natural and artistic is much more Western than Japanese). And, again differently from Western culture, the place of the guest is normally not the one opposite the tokonoma (i.e., in a position where he or she can fully enjoy the beautiful things gathered there), but rather a place where the guest themselves become part of the "beautiful things". It is a very refined form of homage to the "beauty" – physical, moral or both – of the guest, who is considered a "masterpiece". This album by Davinci Edition seems, in my eyes, precisely like an auditory tokonoma. It consists of masterpieces, some of which speak about nature, others about mankind, and still others about both; it is selected by the "hostess" who invites us into her musical home; and it engages the listener, who is not considered a passive music consumer, but rather as a "masterpiece". Just as the personality of the pianist is the true red thread that connects the works recorded here, so too is the personality of the listener called upon to interact with the music and become part of it. The youthful memories that underlie the artist's choice of pieces are evoked by the listener to call forth similar youthful – or adult! – memories, whose own life is invited to participate in this shared artistic act. Just as an ikebana artist picks and selects flowers, leaves and other elements to create a beautiful composition for her tokonoma, so the pianist drew from her repertoire the most important examples of musical works that are meaningful to her. Here too there is a difference from Western conceptions: where for many Europeans or Americans a beautiful bunch of flowers is one with very many flowers, for the Japanese a beautiful ikebana may have only a few flowers, but each of them is enormously valuable. The same applies to the works the artist chooses. The Italian Concerto, which forms the first half of the second part of the Clavier-Übung (one of the few works he published during his lifetime), is a "fake" transcription of a non-existent Italian Concerto; the two-harpsichord is used by Bach to recreate the fullness of a baroque Concerto grosso. After a broad, generous and lively first movement, the second movement is a masterpiece of lyricism, whose enchanting melodic line flows over the punctuation marks of the left hand and presents a repeated bass and two higher parallel lines of unspeakable beauty. In the brilliant third movement, a quotation from the Chorale In Dir ist Freude ("In You is Joy") helps the listener understand the radiant joy of this Concerto as an expression of God's Grace. Schumann's Kinderszenen is a series of short but moving and imaginative works. There are narrative pieces among these miniatures, such as the opening piece, which tells of fabled, exotic places, or the cheerful Kuriose Geschichte, or the pompous Wichtige Begebenheit, or the meditative, somber Fast zu Ernst. There are true "scenes", such as games (Hasche-Mann, Ritter vom Steckenpferd, Fürchtenmachen), but also meditations on the mystery of childhood: pleading or praying children (Bittendes Kind), dreams (Träumerei), contemplations of a time of innocent poetry (Der Dichter spricht), together with other delightful pieces that portray sleeping children (Kind im Einschlummern) or young eyes fascinated by the fireplace (Am Kamin). Continuing on our journey, which is a true voyage of discovery to the corner of beauty that the artist has prepared for us, we encounter the Dances of Argentine composer Ginastera. The most striking element here is the powerful rhythmic drive and the bold, daring dissonances, which are however beautifully woven together with the energetic vitality of the score. It forms one of the most striking elements of that fruitful dialogue between Latin American traditions and the European (especially French) language, which is characteristic of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Within the framework of French culture, two other works are included in this musical tokonoma. Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis (Three beautiful birds of paradise) is a rarely heard work and therefore a fascinating discovery. It was originally a work for a cappella choir and formed the centerpiece of a triptych of choral works, composed by Ravel to his own texts. The context of their composition was that of the first period of the First World War, a tragic moment whose importance Ravel could not underestimate. He wrote to a friend: "Since the day before yesterday this alarm, these weeping women, and above all this terrible enthusiasm of the youth and of all those friends who had to go and of whom I have no news. I can no longer bear it. The nightmare is too dreadful. I think I will go mad any moment or lose my mind. I have never worked so hard, with such mad, heroic rage... Just think of... the horror of this conflict. It never stops for a moment. What good will it all bring?" The three movements were each dedicated to an influential person who, according to Ravel, could help him in his attempt to be recruited for the army. These three pieces are strongly reminiscent of Renaissance polyphony and form three masterful achievements, unfortunately the only ones in Ravel's oeuvre for unaccompanied vocal ensemble. Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis is the only of the three pieces that openly speaks about war, although all three are about loss. The protagonist is a lady who has a premonition that her beloved will die, after receiving three birds of paradise. The colors of these birds are those of the French flag (red, white and blue). In contrast to other works that are more bound to folklore or to the more recent influences of jazz music, this work expresses the soul of a more intimate musical approach, which is complemented by the dizzying whirlwind of La Valse. This composition originally arose as a creative idea with which Ravel initially wanted to pay tribute to Vienna (in fact it would be called Wien or Vienne). Later the legendary choreographer Diaghilev asked him to write a ballet score that would evoke the luxury and fascination of fin-de-siècle Vienna. However, the result did not meet Diaghilev's expectations. Not for nothing did he describe Ravel's composition as a "portrait of a ballet" rather than a true ballet. But this made Ravel furious and ended their friendship. Nevertheless, La Valse has been set to dance music many times and has achieved extraordinary fame in concert form in versions for solo piano, for piano duet and for orchestra. The album is crowned by a brilliant etude by Kapustin. The eight etudes that Kapustin wrote in 1984 quickly acquired a prominent place in the repertoire of piano etudes. They know how to combine a pronounced modern approach with traditional piano technique and a particularly charming and friendly style, which easily conquers the listener. References to Latin American music, or to the North American jazz and pre-jazz tradition are abundant, and the result is both engaging and breathtaking. The listener is therefore invited to taste the beauty of this auditory tokonoma and of course become part of it, in accordance with the tradition and customs of Japanese etiquette and kindness. Chiara Bertoglio © 2025