Piano sonatas capture New World's austere beauty

Two days ago, Michael Cullen played John Adams on Concert FM, and told Charlotte Wilson how starved we are for American concert music. I heartily agree, and hope Dr Cullen searches out Thomas Hecht's new Atoll recording.

Hecht's generous 74-minute programme has sonatas by Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber surrounding a New Zealand work that has waited far too long to be available on disc - Douglas Lilburn's 1947 Chaconne.

The American pianist, based at Victoria University until last year, penetrates Barber's 1948 sonata to its emotional core. Tempi may be more relaxed than those of the charismatic Van Cliburn, but the Adagio mesto gains the right shade of melancholy.

It is the perfect foil for the Finale's fugue, which bolts across the keyboard like a muscled Paul Cadmus athlete.

The austerity of Copland's 1941 Sonata distils a clear beauty all of its own, with cavernous bass sonorities and chords that seem to emanate an Appalachian light.

And how effortlessly the pianist catches the dancing dialogue of the Vivace, in Hecht's own words, "a bonanza of modern dance styles". Here, as always, Wayne Laird's production is exemplary.

Hecht is finely attuned to the timelessness of Lilburn's Chaconne, a monumental score that, at 25 minutes, is an equal partner to the American sonatas. Lilburn unsettles; flourishes are diverted into mere murmur; jaunty sorties dissolve into measured lyricism. The piece was written in awe of the South Island's West Coast scenery and Hecht's magisterial performance inspires similar feelings.

Among international piano releases, Yevgeny Sudbin, on BIS, offers frisky and boldly pianistic takes on 18 Scarlatti sonatas.

Purists may well retreat to their harpsichord haven, but this is music to thrill to, regardless of instrument.

Dissonances crunch and tingle in the first D major sonata, and it is the coolest of cats treading the keys in the G minor Cat's Fugue. An E major work seems to spell "E for elegance", and wicked memories of 60s lounge lizards are evoked in the B minor Sonata once known as Scarlatti Potion Nine.

With cajoling pedal, the occasional octave underlining and tireless passagework, the Russian pianist emerges triumphant.

* Thomas Hecht plays Barber, Lilburn & Copland (Atoll, ACD 205)

Yevgeny Sudbin plays Scarlatti (BIS 1508, through Elite Imports)