Rapa Nui, the indigenous name for Easter Island is perhaps best known for its archeological moai or stone statues that attract tourists worldwide. But the Chilean special territory in remote Polynesia includes among notables 38-year-old concert pianist Mahani Teave – another rarity for the island. Her debut 2 CD set, Rapa Nui Odyssey on Rubicon Classics provides a special musical prowess and tenderness worthy of a movie – which is what filmmaker and director John Forsen created in Song of Rapa Nui (his other musical credits include Emmy award winners Violin Masters: Two Gentleman of Cremona and Transcendence: A Meeting of Greats).
Teave’s life story has the element of intrigue, inspiration, globe-trotting and a chance meeting with David Fulton, former Fox Software founder/rare Cremonese instrument collector/philanthropist, who heard Teave play while visiting Easter Island and arranged for this recording to be made. Her island story began with piano lessons from a retired German violinist who taught solfege and the classics, relocation with mother to Chile for continued studies at Universidad Austral in Valdivia and undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cleveland Institute of Music and Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin – all transitioning into her winning the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, performing on many continents and receiving the Advancement of Women Award from Scotiabank.
Although Teave’s talent took her through different cultures, concert halls and time zones a love of Easter Island drew her back home to establish the Rapa Nui School of Music and the Arts which offers instruction in piano, violin, cello and traditional disciplines of ukulele and ancestral song. The school was established in 2011 but set up shop in various homes and churches which motivated her and husband Enrique Icka, a musician and construction engineer to establish something more permanent. Enter Earthship Biotecture of New Mexico who used their eco-construction concept to design the school and with help from sponsors and volunteers the building opened in 2016 - interestingly, the first of its kind in Latin America and Oceania.
Benaroya Recital Hall in Seattle was the location for Teave’s inaugural recording in which she performs some favorites like Chopin’s Nocturne in E Minor, Op. posth., Scriabin’s Nocturne for the Left Hand, Op. 9 as well as big, bold and challenging repertoire. Input from master teachers Sergei Babayan and Fabio Bidini is evidenced by her sweeping and expansive reading of Rachmaninoff’s Moment musical Op. 16 No. 4, yet Teave’s natural talent imparts a holistic and personalized approach to all she plays - pairing serenity with effortless technical command. It’s quite refreshing to hear Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue BWV 903 unfold with such free-flowing warmth and soft-edged contrapuntal touch which she also gives to Handel’s Suite No. 5, HWV 430 where Air and variations is spun in an unbroken chain of dance-like passages.
This disc includes several pieces that define a pianist’s heart and soul like Chopin’s Barcarolle, Op. 60, Scherzo No. 1 Op. 20 and Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1. Teave envelops the placid moments in a dream-like sequence of pedaling that allow harmonic overtones to linger and lull one into a lovely daydream, until pathos returns with sparkling fingerwork. A standout is the way she taps into the melancholic dramatics of Liszt’s Ballade No. 2 and Vallee d’Obermann from Annees de pelerinage Suisse – a complex work that elicits all the emotion and bravura a pianist can muster. Teave shows a real affinity for the music’s otherworldly flavor, encapsulating the elusive nature of Liszt’s melodic mysteries in buttery fluency and upmarket octaves. Brava.
The recording ends with J.M. Tobar’s enchanting arrangement for piano and voice of the traditional Rapa Nui song I he a Hotumatu la in E flat – which conjures-up a visual image of the island’s organic beauty.