Release Date: 22 November 2019
Label: C-Avi
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4260085531042
Genres: Classical Solo Instrumental
Description
Pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati performs works by Charles-Valentin Alkan.
Schaghajegh Nosrati on her encounters with Charles-Valentin Alkan. "I started to become fascinated with composer Charles Valentin Alkan when I was very young. The groundwork was laid by my teacher Rainer M. Klaas, whose curiosity and commitment in favour of a seldom performed and unjustly forgotten repertoire I still regard as an unrivalled source of inspiration. Klaas played a decisive role. At a time when few had ever listened to Alkan's music or had even heard the composer's name, I had already assimilated and learned to appreciate many of Alkan's works thanks to his teaching. My brother Shafagh had also cultivated an interest in Alkan and performed several of his pieces. I found a further source of inspiration in pianist Marc-André Hamelin, who recorded Alkan's piano music in an unprecedented quality and helped make them known to a much wider audience. Apart from my intense exploration of the music of J. S. Bach, I also began to learn and perform compositions by Alkan when I was still quite young… Last not least, Alkan's music is at times so unconventional and sarcastic that audiences may have experienced more irritation than enthusiasm. His style feeds on abrupt contrast; it features a great deal of counterpoint and is thus more akin to the so-called "German School" than to French salon music. Even today, Alkan's music poses great challenges to listeners and performers, but I find those barriers by no means impossible to overcome. Anyone who dares to explore Alkan's music more closely will be richly rewarded: these are works capable of displaying the utter extremes of the human condition alongside one another: seriousness and humor, intellect and emotion, tradition and modernity. "
Born and raised in Bochum, pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati has enjoyed a solo career marked not only by major prizes at international competitions, but also by a great number of successful concert performances and tours. Her international breakthrough came in 2014 when she won Second Prize at the renowned International Bach Competition in Leipzig, and particularly through her increasing musical collaboration with Sir András Schiff, who has praised the "astounding clarity, purity, and maturity" of her Bach interpretations and the musical insight she displays therein. She was invited to play a concert tour with Sir András Schiff and the Capella Andrea Barca Chamber Orchestra in 2018. They performed together in Dortmund (Konzerthaus), Düsseldorf (Tonhalle), Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts), Vienna (Musikverein), Bratislava (Philharmonic Concert Hall), Lucerne (KKL), and Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie). Highlights of Schaghajegh Nosrati's 2020/21 concert season shall include début appearances at Wigmore Hall in London and at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Tracklisting
Schaghajegh Nosrati
Schaghajegh Nosrati
Antje Weithaas, Denes Varjon
Premysl Vojta, Florence Millet, Ye Wu
Herbert Schuch, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
Sandrine Cantoreggi & Sheila Arnold
Nino Gvetadze
Daniel Heide
Antje Weithaas & Denes Varjon
Kilian Herold & Armida Quartett
