'Lyricism, security, dramatic tension. Mastery with every phrase and sentence in place.'
American Record Review (USA)
Enigmatic and controversial in equal measure, Ferenc Liszt forces us to reconsider our understanding of what it means to be an artist.
This debut-recording for Maria Razumovskaya on the Malachite Record label presents Liszt's most iconic work, the Sonata in B minor along with his great masterpiece — the rarely performed Variations on a Theme of Bach 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' — and the set of Petrarch Sonnets. Together, this album unveils an intense musical portrait of a composer on an epic journey of self-realisation.
This recording was short-listed for the International Liszt Disque Grand Prix
'Razumovskaya impresses with her excellent technique and clarity... power, a particularly fine poetry and much sensitivity.'
Pizziccato Magazine (Luxembourg)
'Can one narrate time - time as such, in and of itself?' These words appeared in print in 1924 in the heart of Thomas Mann’s epic novel The Magic Mountain. For musicians this is a definitive question. Musicians play with time, both for themselves and with other’s perception of it. But music too plays games with our understanding of time. Speaking as individuals we belong to our time, yet the things we most wish to communicate through art are common to all and so are, in fact, timeless. Sometimes, our time seems out of sync with those around us. The great pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni aptly put it: all music stands both 'in and out of time.'
This recording was supported by Arts Council England.
'It is the unexpected twists and turns in these much loved masterpieces that make this compelling performance such a thrilling and revelatory experience .'
Music
Piotr llyich Tchaikovsky’s Seasons (1876) and Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) need little introduction as the two pioneering Russian piano cycles of their age. For me, these are studies in personal character – a collection of self-portraits that bring Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky on an introspective journey that tackles anxiety and takes them onto the path of self-acceptance.
