Sandrine Piau - Schubert: Quintette imaginaire - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

United States Air Force Band - Signatures [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/05/2005

Sandrine Piau and the pianist David Kadouch have formed a new duo whose first concerts have been enthusiastically received. As is her won't, the French soprano enjoys intermingling languages and the worlds of different composers and poets around a theme; here Schubert, Liszt, Wolf and Clara Schumann rub shoulders with Lili Boulanger, Duparc and Debussy. Sandrine Piau explains 'The promise of new horizons, the joy of new encounters the journey in all it's forms was the common thread of this recital for David and me. From the quest for a longed-for yet inaccessible elsewhere to the ultimate transition to death, it maps out our aspirations, our obstacles and the Inchjoyous getawaysInch offered to us by the whirlwind of life. She quotes a beautiful poem often attributed to Pablo Neruda 'He dies slowly who does not travel, who does not read, who does not listen to music, who does not know how to find grace in his own eyes.'

Clair Obscur (Alpha 727), dedicated to German lieder with orchestra, explored the antagonism between light and shadow. Reflet conjures up the nuances and transparencies of French melodies. There is in r eflection the idea of an echo, the shadow of a disquieting double, of a plural, diffracted sparkle... A clash of deceptive mirages, a kaleidoscope of senses and flashes of light, it interweaves in strange parallels the score of our lives, adorned with gold and illusionsInch, writes Sandrine Piau. Berlioz, Gauthier, Britten, Hugo, Verlaine, Baudelaire, Duparc, Koechlin, Ravel, Mallarmé... The encounters between these composers and poets Inchcreate in me a firework display of colours and shimmersInch, concludes the French soprano, who is making her 14th recording for Alpha Classics.