Hiromi: The Piano Quintet fT. PUBLIQuartet

Recorded in pandemic isolation and released in fall 2021, her Telarc album Silver Lining Suite marks a major creative leap for Hiromi, who composed the titular four-movement work for piano and string quartet. Drawing on European classical forms, the music is highly melodic, intricately arranged, emotionally intense, and unmistakably born from the mind of an intrepid improviser. Interacting with the strings, she attacks the piano with all the dynamism and unbridled energy that’s marked her music from the beginning. The suite evokes the whipsawed pandemic experience, from the initial shock and despair as the world shut down to the relief and welcome connection provided by the technology-facilitated silver lining of livestream performance.