02 June 2017
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Sombart
The philanthropic French pianist Elizabeth Sombart releases her latest album, 'Favourite Adagios from the Great Piano Concertos'
The philanthropic French pianist Elizabeth Sombart releases her latest album, Favourite Adagios from the Great Piano Concertos
From a young age, Elizabeth has sought to bring music to the most diverse audience possible beyond the concert hall. This has led her to perform in extraordinary locations including war zones, Palestine camps, hospitals, prisons and orphanages all over the world as part of her work with the Fondation Résonnance (which she herself founded in 1998). It is her belief that the music on this album is a powerful force for good, urgently needed in a ruptured world, and her hope that a recording of this kind should be a "gateway to the unique experience of concert music".
Watch a wonderful preview of the release here:
This life, devoted to the transformative effects of music, is embodied in the album – as Elizabeth explains:
“Through experiencing concerts around the world, I have discovered that listening to adagios is one of the ways that allows everyone to enter into this music. If the slow movements speak to us, it is because they express the pain that people carry within themselves, pain stems from a rupture of the unity that music can restore. Never more so than in the unfolding of slow movements of concertos do composers reveal their soul. Their hearts open up and take us on a journey into our own inner being, where all pain, deprived of words, finds its consolation in the indescribable quality of sound and silence. Where we await a rediscovered peace.”
Recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Vallet in the iconic Abbey Road Studios, this album explores adagio movements from some of the greatest piano concertos. The two-disc set spans centuries of keyboard repertoire from Baroque to Classical, through late Romantic to Contemporary, with a single unifying theme: each adagio movement gives us a glimpse into the composer's inner soul, revealing both pain and consolation. Elizabeth has chosen concertos by eleven composers including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, Brahms and Rachmaninov.
OUT NOW!: Elizabeth Sombart’s Favourite Adagios from the Great Piano Concertos is available from Amazon, iTunes and all major record stores.
