Description

ATMA Classique is pleased to present Fables, a new solo recording by Canadian pianist Philip Chiu. The album pairs two piano transcriptions of music by Ravel with Mnidoonskaa (A Multitude of Insects), a 2021 work by Anishinaabekwe composer Barbara Assiginaak.

One of Ravel’s best-known works, Mother Goose is heard here in a version for solo piano by Jacques Charlot, published in 1910. Though the composer’s String Quartet in F major is an early piece from 1903, Ravel’s playful, idiosyncratic language is already well established. Chiu performs a transcription of the quartet for solo piano by Lucien Garban, published in 1921.

Assiginaak’s music expresses traditions and messages of Indigenous history. A direct descendant of hereditary chiefs who signed major treaties in Ontario, the composer is a child and grandchild of residential school survivors.