Lee Hyla - Riff & Transfiguration - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Franziska Lee has made a name for herself as an exceptional pianist capable of eliciting an orchestral palette of colors from the piano. Following her debut featuring an exclusively 20th-century French program (Capriccio C3006), Lee has devoted her second recording to British composers of the same period. Together they tell a story of their time, from Britten's exuberant Holiday Diary, a joyful interlude between the wars, to Tippett's escapist Piano Sonata No. 1, written on the eve of the Second World War. With effortless virtuosity and musical insight Lee shines a light on a lesser-known corner of the piano repertoire.

Felix Mendelssohn was an excellent pianist and could have been a leading soloist. His financial independence allowed him to dedicate himself to composing, however, and the importance of his works in the history of musical Romanticism is beyond question. The Fantasy on 'The Last Rose of Summer' has the nature of a dreamy Irish ballad, while the Trois Fantaisies ou Caprices was considered by Mendelssohn to be 'three of my best piano pieces'. The blend of the tradition of Bach and technical complexity in the Variations sérieuses is one of the composer's most admired works for piano, rounding out an album of repertoire that reveals some of the most original characteristics of Mendelssohn's art

Musical gestures and traditions migrate from one culture to another, from the past to the present, enriching the artistic practice of our time. A fascination with the nuances of timbre - variety of touch, articulation and gesture - links the aesthetics of ancient Chinese music with current contemporary music performance practice. Gestures common to these sound worlds, such as bending notes, grace notes, timbre transformation, harmonic resonance, fluctuating vibrato and expressive shaping of notes, different kinds of attacks, glissandi and arpeggios, reveal the connections between these diverse musical idioms. In the music of Hope Lee, subtle sonic transformation via meaningful gestures is an essential aspect in her musical sensibilities and expression. This new album focuses on Hope Lee's piano compositions from the past four decades (1979-2017). This new recording features pianist Yumiko Meguri, as well as accordionist Stefan Hussong. Both musicians are contemporary music interpreters extraordinaire Yumiko Meguri has more than 10 albums released, ranging from Western classical to contemporary music and jazz; Stefan Hussong, having over 100 works written for him, is recognized internationally as a most acclaimed interpreter and recording artist of music of our time.