Lise de La Salle – Schumann (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

These three works offer a genuine journey, full of con-trasts, in which the listener can easily find wonder, surprise, and kaleidoscopic shifts from one emotion to another. I like it when you dont ever settle into a com-fort zone. Im looking for emotions thats what guides me. These pieces arent for children, but assume the character of innocence and candour that one finds in childhood. Id even go so far as to say that they adopt the tone of late adolescence and early adulthood.”” – Lise de la Salle Alongside the powerful concertos by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Prokofiev or Chopin she plays all over the world, Lise de la Salle has a special link with Robert Schumann’s early piano pieces.She chose the Abegg Variations op.1, Kinderszenen op.15 and the Fantasie in C major op.17 for her first recording dedicated to the German romantic master.A repertoire in which she has a lot to say and reveal.

Reviews:

I’ve always listened to a lot of Schumann. He fascinated me when I was a little girl of six or seven. I’ve always been attracted by the manic side of him, his very individual ‘touch’, and I’ve always loved surrendering myself to his music. I feel very close to it. But although Schumann is one of the composers I get most out of, I waited a long time before I played him ‘seriously’… I think I didn’t want to risk being disappointed by myself. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine that everything I had dreamt about this music might not take shape exactly as I wanted. So I waited until I was completely ready, and that moment came a few years ago. The Fantasie was the apotheosis of those dreams of mine. So I built this programme around it. As for the Kinderszenen, I often played the piece Der Dichter spricht as an encore; I think it’s extraordinarily evocative, yet without any trace of technical demonstration – the power it packs into just a few notes is deeply moving to me. In a recording, I especially like to take the listener by the hand and set out to show him or her the greatest possible number of things. I always try to find a trajectory in my programmes. That’s what we have on this disc: beginning with the Fantasie as my starting-point, I double back to the very start of Schumann’s career with the Abegg Variations, then I follow the course of the short pieces, very varied in atmosphere, that make up the Kinderszenen. A musical journey needs those contrasts, and Schumann draws the essence of emotion from them.” Lise de la Salle

“…With Schumann’s splashy “Abegg” Variations (Op. 1) ably dispatched with Champagne bubble fizz to start the recital’s second half, Ms. de la Salle concluded her program with the same composer’s towering Fantasia in C (Op. 17). She was an expert guide through a score by turns turbulent and reverent, faithfully maintaining narrative threads while deftly illuminating the passions swirling around them.”

Tracklist:
1-01. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: I.Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (02:00)
1-02. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: II.Kuriose Geschichte (01:03)
1-03. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: III.Hasche-Mann (00:32)
1-04. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: IV.Bittendes Kind (01:05)
1-05. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: V.Glückes genug (00:40)
1-06. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: VI.Wichtige Begenbenheit (00:50)
1-07. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: VII.Träumerei (02:47)
1-08. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: VIII.Am Kamin (00:49)
1-09. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: IX.Ritter vom Steckenpferd (00:37)
1-10. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: X.Fast zu ernst (02:23)
1-11. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: XI.Fürchtenmachen (01:49)
1-12. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: XII.Kind im Einschlummern (02:18)
1-13. Lise de La Salle – Kinderszenen Op. 15: XIII.Der Dichter spricht (03:27)
1-14. Lise de La Salle – Abegg-variationen Op. 1 (08:22)
1-15. Lise de La Salle – Fantasie in C major Op. 17: I.Durchaus fantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen, Im Legenden-Ton (14:11)
1-16. Lise de La Salle – Fantasie in C major Op. 17: II.Mäßig. Durchaus energisch (07:38)
1-17. Lise de La Salle – Fantasie in C major Op. 17: III.Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten (10:12)