Cordelia Williams – Cascade (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Cordelia Williams – Cascade (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:10 minutes | 953 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings

SOMM Recordings announces Cascade, the exhilarating new recital by pianist Cordelia Williams featuring music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Prokofiev.

Cascade explores music’s mercurial ability to change in an instant, to reveal depths beneath the surface, and to illustrate, as Williams says, “that the whole world can change entirely in one twist of perspective, one change of angle, to offer a glimpse of something bigger”.

Early and late Beethoven bookend the programme. Unpublished in his lifetime, the C major Bagatelle (WoO 56) flickers and glints, sparkles and surprises with kaleidoscope-like brilliance. His Op.126 Six Bagatelles – among the very last pieces he wrote for solo piano – alternate between the introspective and the garrulous, each turned inside out to reveal new facets and features.

A variegated collection of 20 miniatures with hints of Chopin, Scriabin and Shostakovich to be found, Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives, Op.22 are essentially a series of meditations, each individually pursuing a specific idea or mood while collectively exploring the hinterland between surface appearance and what lies beneath; and all expressed with comparable crystalline clarity.

Schumann’s Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), his last major cycle for solo piano, is an enchanted landscape lit up by beguiling pastoralism and shadow-cast by darker recesses of the imagination. Two sides of the same coin: Arcadia in excelsis, and red in tooth and claw.

Booklets notes, as with all of Cordelia Williams’ recent SOMM releases, have been written by Michael Quinn.

Tracklist:
01. Cordelia Williams – Bagatelle in C Minor, WoO 56 (02:13)
02. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 1, Lentamente (01:20)
03. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 2, Andante (01:27)
04. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 3, Allegretto (00:58)
05. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 4, Animato (00:59)
06. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 5, Molto giocoso (00:26)
07. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 6, Con eleganza (00:28)
08. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 7, Pittoresco (02:14)
09. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 8, Commodo (01:15)
10. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 9, Allegro tranquillo (01:20)
11. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 10, Ridicolosamente (00:52)
12. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 11, Con vivacità (01:12)
13. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 12, Assai moderato (00:57)
14. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 13, Allegretto (00:52)
15. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 14, Feroce (01:08)
16. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 15, Inquieto (00:51)
17. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 16, Dolente (01:56)
18. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 17, Poetico (01:00)
19. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 18, Con una dolce lentezza (01:19)
20. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 19, Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuato (00:46)
21. Cordelia Williams – Visions fugitives, Op. 22: No. 20, Lento irrealmente (01:57)
22. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 1, Eintritt (02:05)
23. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 2, Jäger auf der Lauer (01:36)
24. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 3, Einsame Blumen (01:48)
25. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 4, Verrufene Stelle (03:19)
26. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 5, Freundliche Landschaft (01:15)
27. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 6, Herberge (02:00)
28. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 7, Vogel als Prophet (03:02)
29. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 8, Jagdlied (02:48)
30. Cordelia Williams – Waldszenen, Op. 82: No. 9, Abschied (03:57)
31. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 1, Andante con moto, cantabile e con piacevole (02:38)
32. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 2, Allegro (01:49)
33. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 3, Andante, cantabile ed espressivo (02:34)
34. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 4, Presto (03:57)
35. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 5, Quasi allegretto (02:09)
36. Cordelia Williams – 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126: No. 6, Presto – Andante amabile e con moto (04:26)

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