Karl-Andreas Kolly - Piano Album - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Robin Eubanks - Karma [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/04/2003

If there is a musical equivalent to a great French red wine The music of Émile-Robert Blanchet would be a worthy candidate. Karl-Andreas Kolly has taken on piano music by his Swiss compatriot and recorded it on Super Audio album, much of it probably for the first time. Blanchet studied with Busoni, so it's no wonder that his music, too, knows no bounds pianistically. The naturalness with which Andreas Kolly masters these supreme difficulties leaves room for musical depth with long enduring resonance. After studying in Weimar and Berlin, Blanchet returned to Lausanne, where he taught at the conservatoire and also took over it's direction for a time. At the age of 40, however, he turned his back on teaching to devote himself almost exclusively to his passion, mountaineering. Fortunately, he continued to play occasional recitals, for which he repeatedly composed his own pieces. Blanchet is obviously not interested in virtuoso effect. Again and again, there are harsh dissonances in the full-bodied chords that create an intense, sometimes downright threatening atmosphere, as in InchTocsinInch (Alarm Bell), which - unlike many nationalistically euphoric contemporaries - seems to foreshadow the horrors of the First World War as early as August 1914. Whether in the numerous etudes, ballads or nocturnes Blanchet's idiosyncratic harmonies unfold their multi-layered charms above all in the aftertaste. Karl-Andreas Kolly traces these special sounds with great sensitivity; the Steinway concert grand InchManfred BürkiInch from 1901 with it's profound depth and brilliant treble does the rest for a lasting listening experience that virtually invites repetition.

In the best Bohemian-Jewish virtuoso tradition, Hans Seeling traveled through the salons and concert halls of Europe in the mid-19th century. As the cover suggests, he also stayed for some time in Venicee before succumbing far too early to the effects of a lung ailment in his hometown of Prague. From the highly interesting compositional legacy of the piano virtuoso, Karl-Andreas Kolly has now made a remarkable selection that sheds illuminating light on a corner of Romantic piano music that has hitherto been completely in the dark. Very little is known about Seeling's life, even about his piano teachers. His music, however, reveals role models His etudes reveal immediate affinities with Chopin; even the melancholy character of the Barcarole recalls one or another of the great Pole's mazurkas. Now and then one finds echoes of Schumann or the other great virtuosos of his time, from Moscheles to Henselt. At the same time, Seeling draws on wide-stretched melodic arcs of almost vocal quality. Especially the InchSchilfliederInch after Lenau's poems, which were extremely popular at that time, almost immediately invite to sing along. And even the etudes break away from technical exercises to become extremely distinctive character pieces. InchMemoirs of an ArtistInch is the title of Seeling's op. 13, which he put to paper on his deathbed, following the testimony of a friend. The composer is silent about programmatic details; only the last two pieces, with their titles InchMarche funèbreInch and InchApotheose,Inch may point to a biographical relationship. It is fascinating how Seling understands how to take the listener directly with him on his life's journey A sounding vita, which was snatched from oblivion by Karl-Andreas Kolly in the most loving way and with almost casual virtuosic elegance.