Japanese pianist Momo Kodama reaches halfway around the world and across a century of time to bring together the 12 late études of Debussy and six études written between 2011 and 2013 by her countryman, Toshio Hosokawa.
Debussy named his pieces after pianistic issues, Pour les octaves, Pour les tierces, and so on. Hosokawa's titles are rather more evocative: Anger, or Ayatori, Magic by 2 Hands, 3 Lines. Kodama eschews chronology and interweaves the pieces into a sometimes boundary-blurring sequence that trades on the cross-fertilisation between French and Japanese composers.
Her performing style in the Debussy also tends to downplay the pieces' étude-like nature. A fascinating collection. url.ie/kh67