- Rachmaninov
Sonata for piano n° 1. Preludes op. 32 n° 2, 7, 8 and 13.
Lukas Genius (piano).
Like some of his colleagues, the Russian-Lithuanian Lukas Geniusas, born in 1990, recorded on the piano of Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), who still sits at the Villa Senar, in Switzerland, where the composer was installed on the shores of Lake Lucerne. An instrument of unusual length, offered to the virtuoso by Steinway on the occasion of its 60e anniversary, whose golden sound in the right hand is coupled with the bass of a lyrical singer. Geniusas here tackles the original version of the gigantic 1907 masterpiece that is the First Sonata, of which he reveals, beyond the exacerbated post-romanticism, treasures of poetry. Because this work « sauvage », impressive in virtuosity, is also experienced through an interior drama served in turn with fervor, delicacy and sobriety – which excludes neither passion nor power. The same goes for the anthology of four Preludes extracts from opus 32, also in their original version, from which the young pianist deploys nuanced and subtle visions, giving voice to a Rachmaninoff whose apparent extroversion conceals secret pains. Marie-Aude Roux
Alpha Classics/Outhere Music.
- Alena Baeva and Vadym Kholodenko
Fantasy
Schubert: Fantasy in C major, op. 159. Stravinsky: Divertimento extrait du Baiser de la fée (arrangement by Samuel Dushkin). Schumann: Märchenbilder, op. 113. Messiah: Fantasy. Alena Baeva (violin), Vadym Kholodenko (piano).
Declined in different tones in each piece of this unexpected program, the notion of fantasy seems as limitless as the art of the violinist who invests it with a strong temperament. Franz Schubert’s kaleidoscopic opus 159 provides a primer of exceptional quality. Alena Baeva makes the melody emerge from a translucent horizon like a mirage which will gradually take shape. The understanding between the Russian soloist and her Ukrainian husband is such that one has the impression that, even silent, the violin continues to express itself in the piano playing. The duo subsequently multiplies their tightrope walking feats. The bewitching virtuosity of Igor Stravinsky (in a reduction of the strength, but not of the effects, of the original score) and the whispered dreaminess of Robert Schumann (in a version where the violin has nothing to envy of the viola usually required) prepare the ground for the mystical exaltation of Olivier Messiaen, in a page dedicated to his first wife, the violinist Claire Delbos. Pierre Gervasoni
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