Duo Praxedis - Signature - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Abel / Fritzsch / Salonen - Sonatas & Trios From Lendenburg Collection [COMPACT DISCS] date 06/24/2016

At a time when the world situation is changing drastically and fear, worry and negativity reign, many people feel tired and overwhelmed. With InchHOPEInch, the of various spiritual and gospel songs, the duo Praxedis would like to set an antipole to let hope and confidence flow into people's hearts. For the first time, they are dedicating themselves to the fascinating world of sacred, heavenly songs from America and have written their own arrangements for the duo genre of the two solo instruments harp and piano, which was popular in the 19th century. The complexity of the poetry in the 23 songs allows for different moods and interpretations. On the one hand, there are allusions to the social situation alongside a belief in the hereafter. The call to protest stands alongside the longing for freedom. The belief in a higher power stands alongside the need for a leader to save us from enslavement by the events of the world. Just as it was today when the songs were written. Living on multiple planes of existence as a citizen of the earth is becoming increasingly oppressive, with well-defined structures as a projection screen for the social cliche that society makes of us all. While songs used to be performed as a vocal construct with accompanying instruments, the interpretation with harp & piano dusts off the religious scheme of the time by omitting the singing voice and emphasizes the topicality of the works, which deal with themes of the human longing for love, light and peace, through spherical harp sounds in dialogue with sparkling piano dynamics.

Harpist to Queen Victoria, the Welsh composer John Thomas (1826-1913) was also a prolific composer for his own instrument, writing works both for solo harp and for duos of two harps or harp and piano - a combination where the different sounds of the two instruments enhances the clarity of the texture. Thomas' original works use the elegant Romantic style of his own day, but he often drew on Welsh folksong for his inspiration and also left a generous legacy of transcriptions, especially of operatic favorites. Duo Praxedis comprises the harpist Praxedis Hug-Rütti and the pianist Praxedis Geneviève Hug. Together they have been enchanting audiences for many years. Duo Praxedis's mission is to revive the once popular repertory for harp and piano that flourished from about 1780 until about 1915. Since 2010 Duo Praxedis has been performing regularly throughout Europe and the United States, invariably with great success.