Records to buy before the year turns.
By Roy Gregory
Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes
Polydor 6590478
Víkingur Ólafsson – Continuum
Deutsche Grammophon DGG 486 6073
With vinyl releases coming and going with such alacrity, it’s easy to miss the boat if you are not at the front of the line. By the time you realise this is a record not to be missed, all too often it has already sold out. So here are two recent(ish) records that definitely qualify as ‘should/must haves’ – albeit very different and for different reasons.
Michael Kiwanuka’s Love&Hate rode a wave of popularity after the track ‘Cold Little Heart’ was ransacked for the Big Little Lies theme tune. It’s a great album and in the wake of the TV series, vinyl copies quickly became super scarce – and commensurately expensive. Now re-issued, those who missed out can catch up at standard price. It’s an album that’s well worth having – even if it’s not as good as his latest, Small Changes. 11 tracks from the same team that delivered Love&Hate, the more condensed musical landscape has pushed the sheer quality and consistency of the music even higher. Kiwanuka’s voice is special – and he’s no mean hand with a guitar, as well as just about everything else on the album, short of keyboards/piano (courtesy of Inflo). Production is by Kiwanuka and Danger Mouse, with a style and flourishes familiar from earlier albums. The title track might be a standout, but given the sheer excellence of the album as a whole, it’s no surprise that the other tracks vie for attention. With multiple special pressings in various different coloured/marbled vinyl, I’m not sure that Small Changes is going to suffer the same scarcity issues as Love&Hate, but better to be safe than sorry. There again – who knows which colour sounds best?
Víkingur Ólafsson’s Goldbergs were warmly welcomed, definitely one of this year’s classical highlights (alongside Angela Hewitt’s version, finally released on vinyl by Hyperion). If the sheer brilliance of Hewitt’s playing ultimately leaves Ólafsson sounding slightly restrained, you might (slightly fancifully) see Continuum as the Icelander’s response. Extending his investigation of Bach’s wider work, this short 19-minute disc features six transcriptions for piano. But what a 19-minutes it is! Pressed on crystal clear vinyl (it’s available on standard black vinyl for slightly less, but it’s a false economy) the surfaces on my disc are ghostly quiet, while the recording matches DGG’s best current efforts: so, very good indeed. Seldom can the juxtaposition of artist, material and media have been so fortunate. The concise precision of the music is perfectly served by Ólafsson’s poised, reflective playing and superb control of pace, placement and note-weight, while the excellent pressing makes this one of the most beautiful piano discs in my collection. The arrangement of Das alte Jahr vergangen ist, BWV 614 for four hands, played with his wife, is particularly breath-taking. The clear vinyl version is described as “a limited edition” although quite what that means, one can never be sure. It’s certainly still available – at least for the moment, so grab it while you can.
