TULEVAISUUS | CULTURAL ATTACHÉ - REVIEW

New In Music This Week: November 21st

by: Craig Byrd | November, 2025

Pianist Melemed is offering up his own take on the relationship amongst very compositions. In the case of Tulevaisuus, he’s selected works by Bach, Liszt and Schumann that have been important to him. Then he’s asked three different composers to write new works in response to the works of those masters.

Stephen Hough’s Prelude and Fugue (Aeolian) was composed in response to Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in B-Flat Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1. Laura Kaminsky composed Threnody…October 2024 in response to Liszt’s Funérailles from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. Avner Dorman composed Lament and Variations in response to Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann.

Hough, Kaminsky and Dorman’s works are all first-rate. I’ve long been a fan of Hough, his playing and his compositional skills. My response to his two pieces was not a surprise. They were thoughtful, clever and impressive.

Kaminsky and Dorman have written works that, in their own ways, examine grief and sorrow and the ways one can move beyond those feelings to a place of peace. Both works succeed brilliantly in taking listeners on that journey.

Melemed’s performance is solid throughout. At 30-years old he has the potential for quite an amazing career. I believe this is his first recording. What an impressive way to start.