An audiophile LP transfer for an
immersive tribute to a remote island
off the coast of Brittany.
Having become celebrated for his score
to Amélie (2001), the French composer
moved to the island of Ushant
(Ouessant/Eusa), and this album is a
musical tribute to his home, comprising
ten pieces about ten specific places on
the island. In 2016, Tiersen published a
collection of pieces called Eusa, which
Jeroen van Veen has combined with his
2021 collection, Kerber, named after a
chapel on the island, to produce Island.
The album has been a best-seller on CD
for its contemplative mood and beauty.
Among the 10 tracks, some offer the
perfect soundtrack for contemplation on
a long walk or staring out of a window on
a train journey. Others seem predestined
to be background music for study or
relaxation. The pieces sound at times
dreamy and wistful, at times bittersweet,
at other times happily playful. With each
song, your imagination can easily conjure
a scene from a movie: a breakup after a
fight in a cosy café or a nature
documentary showing two baby birds
opening their eyes for the very first
time.
This isn’t a collection about isolation;
it’s more an expression of awareness of
your own environment and your place
within it: a sonic encapsulation of the
hyper-local. Tiersen relates this
approach to a night spent studying the
stars – which he himself does. ‘You can
look at things that are thousands of
light years away and relate your own
existence to this really cosmic element,’
he says. ‘But you get that same feeling
with the things all around you.’

Symphonic in scale and with great dramatic power, Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor is an underappreciated masterpiece, depicting a tremendous range of human emotions. The turbulent and brilliant Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor is heard in the 1931 revised version which clarifies textures and streamlines the work, heightening it's emotional impact. The Isle of the Dead employs Georgy Kirkor's 1957 transcription which Boris Giltburg has revised significantly. Giltburg's authority in Rachmaninoff has been universally acknowledged, with his performances termed 'characterful, sensitive and technically dazzling' by BBC Music Magazine (Naxos 8.574528).

REVIEW:

For all his technical ability and mastery of what is possible on the piano, Boris Giltburg is not a merciless technician, but a pianist who immerses himself in the music.

In the two Rachmaninoff sonatas, Giltburg draws us into a music that takes off without harshness, almost floating, and clearly tending toward Scriabin. The contrasts are made all the more exciting by the spontaneity of the playing, as are the magnificent, exciting melodic arcs with which he makes the piano sing.

The transcription of the symphonic poem ‘Isle of the Dead’ is also very successful, because Giltburg and Kirkur have obviously felt the dark and demonic secrets of this music very well. With his imaginative playing, Giltburg gives the piano a very active role, allowing it to act rather than merely reproduce impressions. The music of the Isle of the Dead shimmers in many colors and is full of dramatic power, full of life.

— Pizzicato

The latest instalment from baroque ensemble La Serenissima. Often compared to Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini was a famous virtuoso violinist and highly respected teacher, and is best known for the sonata “Il Trillo del Diavolo” (The Devi’s Trill) which is legendary for both its story and for its fiendish level of technical wizardry.

The Arcadia Quartet’s acclaimed survey of Weinberg’s String Quartets continues with this fourth volume containing Quartets Nos 6, 13, and 15. Quartet No. 6 was composed in 1946, the composer dedicating it to his friend Georgiy Sviridov, whom he had met in Shostakovich’s circle. The Quartet is a summit of his early achievements, and its musical language is strikingly advanced in relation to traditional Soviet works in the genre. It was banned by the authorities, and as a result, Weinberg wrote no more quartets until after the death of his mentor Shostakovich. String Quartet No. 13 was composed in 1977 and dedicated to the Borodin Quartet. It comprises a single movement lasting some fourteen or fifteen minutes, making it the shortest of all Weinberg’s quartets. String Quartet No. 15, from 1979, is in many respects the most radically conceived of all Weinberg’s quartets – certainly its nine-movement design suggests so. In expressive terms, too, it is one of the most elusive. The movements carry no titles or expressive directions, and, as in the case of his previous two quartets, Weinberg confines himself to metronome indications, avoiding all specification of character.

REVIEWS:

The Arcadia Quartet's underlying technical finesse and emotional commitment duly reinforce this music’s stature.

— Gramophone

Whatever the music’s texture and temperature, the Arcadia group plunge in without fear, doubly armed with their sturdy technique and total commitment to Weinberg’s cause.

— The Times (U.K.)