Nelly Akopian-Tamarina SLAVONIC REFLECTIONS

 

SLAVONIC REFLECTIONS

 

Louise Alder / Joseph Middleton LINES WRITTEN DURING A SLEEPLESS NIGHT

                                                           The Russian Connection

Marlis Petersen / Camillo Radicke DIMENSIONEN - ANDERSWELT

The Otherworld... The human being rooted in the world that sees only what the eye can see… Does he at once dare a glance to the side where nature, spirits and elemental beings reside? Not many of us have kept the ability to view them and get in contact. This release offers you the ‘Otherworldly’ eye from the early Romantic period up to the classical modernism, including the Northern countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland), and now hope you allow yourself to be "lost to the world"… Plunge into the magical world of twilight - populated with elemental spirits, elves, waterlilies, nymphs and merman. The creatures of the unseen are the protagonists of this classical song album and tempt the listener into their legendary realms. Carl Loewe, Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Nikolai Medtner, Hugo Wolf, Alexander Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, Hans Sommer and many more engaged themselves in this mystic world and set it in music in a very sensual and playful way!

Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev REFLECTIONS

Reflections marks the first recording on Decca Classics of Russian pianist Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev, second prize winner at both the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition and the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition.

The album features Russian classics including Rachmaninov's Moments Musicaux, Prokofiev's Visions fugitives, and pieces by Scriabin, Medtner and Tchaikovsky. Of the album, Arseny says that it is very special and precious to him, observing that "it's a bit like an old magic mirror — maybe a false one — which has seen a few generations passing by, and contains memories of all of them."

The album also pays homage to the music of Arseny's grandmother, internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Tatiana Nikolayeva.
  

"when I see Arseny play, the whole history of piano playing begins to unfold before me" - Gerard Willems

"profound musicality and deeply lyrical talent... a rare treat in a musician of his young age, and we can't wait to see him grow and develop in his career" - Dr. Alexander Buhr, Decca Classics

"the piano's ultimate aristocrat" - Cyrus Meher-Homji, Universal Music Australia

Anna Gourari VISIONS FUGITIVES

Pianist Anna Gourari’s ECM debut – 2012’s Canto Oscuro, an album that channels the Baroque and its spirit reflecting darkly through the ages – earned praise far and wide. Gramophone declared her version of the Bach/Busoni Chaconne “one of the most riveting on record,” while The Absolute Sound judged the entire disc “devastating.” Visions fugitives, Gourari’s second ECM release, showcases the intense beauty of her sound in Prokofiev’s title work, a set of 20 “fleeting visions” whose moods swing wildly and evocatively. The album also features Medtner’s Fairy Tale in f minor (from his long series of skazki, or “tales”) and Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in b minor, which includes a Beethovenian opening movement as well as a touching, songful Largo.
Born in Kazan, Tartarstan, Gourari is a musician steeped in the venerable Russian piano school, with its technical verities and Old World glamour. The great pianist Alexis Weissenberg found her playing “almost mystical” when he was on the jury with Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Nelson Freire that deemed Gourari winner of the Clara Schumann Piano Competition in 1994.
With Visions fugitives, Gourari explores the ultra-dynamic, shape-shifting sound world of Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953), whose rhythmic energy was declared “savage” by early U.S. critics but who was also one of the 20th century’s great masters of melody, as well as atmosphere. Beyond his nine important piano sonatas, the Russian wrote many shorter works for piano, prime among them his motoric Toccata, the Sarcasms and his set of Visions fugitives.