The CD, "Poetic Moods," recorded by the Toronto pianist Maria Dolnycky, explores the various creative moods of seven 20th century composers of Ukraine.

Borys Liatoshynsky's Prelude, Op. 44, from 1943 opens the program firmly, introducing the soloist and her partner - the Steinway. The work features a haunting and melancholy mood, but sounds surprisingly conventional for a radical composer of expressionism, who revolutionized the overly traditional musical language of early 20th century Ukraine. The piano, nevertheless, has both depth and direct definition.

The two [Revutsky] Preludes Op. 7 . are likewise admirably played with the first of the two culminating very gradually until the final climax of emotion. This somewhat unorthodox approach still has a way of sounding refreshingly new, and the accent is on the lyrical fabric of the score, rather than on the obvious strong character of the piece, suggested by the heroic key of E-Flat Major.

[Yuri] Ishchenko's "Poetic Moods, Book 1" (1981) unfold into seven brief but charged dispositions or frames of mind. Tuning into them feels like stealing glances into the composer's creative soul. His music glistens in colors of fragmented stained glass windows, which in themselves become our windows into contemporary music of Ishchenko's generation.

The same composer's Four Waltzes have evolved from the old and quaint specimens of this Viennese pastime. Startling at first are the intercuts of brief quotes from Chopin's "valses" with the contemporary Ishchenko dances.

Barvinsky – the only composer on the disc, who studied and worked in the West – was published by Vienna's prestigious Universal Edition. He became the principal teacher and mentor of this writer's late father, noted pianist-educator Roman Sawycky Sr., and the Barvinsky "oeuvre" seems nearest to Ms. Dolnycky's psyche and her musical response.

[Valentin] Silvestrov became one of the original members of the Kyiv Avant-Garde. [His] later, unique post-modern style, to which he referred as "metaphoric music" or simply "meta-music" … was universal in character and poetic by nature. Silvestrov's Piano Sonata No. 1 lays down this new style. This writer had the pleasure of meeting Silvestrov in Lviv and was genuinely surprised by his quiet and modest demeanor, which seemed very much like his music.

Summation

Often favoring the lyrical style, rather than the easier, bombastical approach to her sonorous Steinway, Ms. Dolnycky still provides a fine focus of sound. The close miking also brings a more intimate chamber atmosphere to the performances. These are note-perfect, and the pianist's technique remains completely clean. Much has been said of personal pianistic methods, and in the final analysis Ms. Dolnycky's is the lighter touch of talent, that summons sounds of artistic truth.