Benjamin Goodman plays a selection of the late composer and pianist Sara Feigin's work, on Navona Records's Piano Works by Sara Feigin. Led by Carmela O’Flaherty, the composer’s daughter, the project consists nearly entirely of previously unperformed and unrecorded works for piano...

For those that have been keen followers of Sara Feigin's output, Piano Works by Sara Feigin is more than just a performance of some of her highlights. Over the course of these 22 tracks (46 min, 39 sec) we're offered the opportunity to hear work that has never been released before.

Feigin’s music is full of formidable technical challenges for the pianist and so only an artist who is adept at pouring the raw emotion from the page to the piano could truly do this justice. Step forward Benjamin Goodman who masterfully interprets Feigin's vibrant, virtuosic music.

Goodman is put to the test in the breathless and frenetic 'Toccata', based on a folk theme from Feigin’s native Latvia. This piece brought to mind the work of George Gershwin. Feigin’s interest in folk elements is inseparable from her concern with human suffering.

Her 'Sonata', which beautifully closes the album, is the best example of this. It contains some of her most visceral and emotional writing, building to the third movement, titled 'The Last Way'. This movement was dedicated to the victims of Ukraine’s Babi Yar concentration camp, and draws from Joseph Kuzkovsky’s painting depicting the carnage, 'Led to the Slaughter – Babi Yar.'

For lovers of piano based music, there is enough diversity to keep you entertained for quite some time.

8

Darren Rea