Freetime Magazine, January 2011
Local Releases, World Class Talent
by Scott Gudell:
Pianist and Composer
Beata E. Golec
What attracted me to the disc by pianist and composer Ms. Beata Golec was
that is wasn't simply ANOTHER play-it-safe collection of Mozart, Beethoven,
and/or Brahms pieces. Ms. Golec is willing to open the disc with three short
original compositions, follow it with pieces by two contemporary composers
(Judith Lang Zaimont and Arvo Part) and then anchor the disc with a Mozart
Sonata, thus offering just enough of a recognizable element to attract our
attention. The three originals are short pieces that dovetail nicely. The first is a
dark, dissonant tone poem, the second an elusive free form piece and the third
(Forests - for piano solo) seem to evoke the verdant landscape of her native
Poland. Just a few miles north are Estonia and the home of Part. His Sonatina
is brisk and refreshingly airy.
The Mozart selection, though not as lyrical as it is when presented by pianists
such as Murray Periaha or Vladimir Horowitz, is light and offers us just enough
of the "standard" classical names that will invite us in and balance the more
adventurous pieces.