OPUS d’OR pour le CD PROKOFIEV
ŒUVRES POUR VIOLON ET PIANO
Kristi Gjezi (violon). Louis Lancien (piano)
Paraty 149182, Pias distribution
The famous Russian composer, Serge Prokofiev, is here on the menu, with three chamber works for violin and piano. The musicologist, Pierre-Emile Barabier, recently deceased, underlines with pertinence that: “Starting from 1933, and up to his definitive return to the USSR in 1938, Prokofiev progressively became a musician who was basically classical in form, profoundly imaginative harmonically, capable of motorically implacable explosiveness as well as an ineffable and “innocent” lyricism which were the glory of his “Soviet” ballets, Romeo and Juliette, and Cinderella. His youthful causticity and iconoclastic verve made way for an epic inspiration which make these “war” scores invaluable. In chamber music, he was only looking for difficult “challenges,” instrumental experiments, all the while attaining masterpiece status for his Sonata Nº1 for Violin and Piano Op.80.” And it is this work we hear on this disc, along with the Sonata Nº2 for Violin and Piano Op.94a, as well as the 5 Melodies Op.35 bis. Violinist Kristi Gjezi and pianist Louis Lancien share the same sense of musical discourse and their engagement is not the smallest plus of this remarkable CD. Colors, nuances, dynamics, and phrasing are masterfully and abundantly intoxicating. In short, this is a great discographic surprise by two artists whose careers need to be followed.
Jean-Jacques Millo
Translation Lawrence Schulman
