Miroirs

Lilya Zilberstein has already taken on some of the virtuoso pillars of the repertoire for DG—Brahms's Paganini Variations, the Mussorgsky Pictures, Rachmaninov's Third Concerto and so it is fascinating to hear her in music of a more subtle evocation and delicacy. And although her Debussy and Ravel are hardly consistent or to the manner born, they are rarely less than individual or distinguished. Like other Russian pianists before her she places greater emphasis on the music's sensuous and expressive warmth than on its formal clarity. Her response to say, ''Le soiree dans Grenade'' (from Estampes) is richly coloured and inflected (a reminder, perhaps, of Falla's awe of Debussy's Hispanicism) and in ''Jardins sous la pluie'' her virtuosity evokes a coldly drenched and windswept garden its flowers momentarily bejewelled by passing sunlight. She is also highly successful in the more objective patterning of Pour le piano, making the opening Prelude's fortissimo chording and shooting-star glissandos resonate with unusual power.

Eugenio Catone has received awards in many national and international competitions, including first prize and Bluthner Trophy for the youngest finalst in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2012; ‘Biella’ Prize at the Pozzoli International Piano Competition in Seregno; ‘Albano’ prize at the Arcangelo Speranza International Piano Competition 2012 in Taranto and first prize at the ‘Chopin Golden Ring’ Competition in Ptuj (Slovenia).

In his five Stanze, composed in 2016, Mauro Montalbetti openly declares his special affinity with the author of Boléro, placing him within the select circle of his greatest loves. What strikes one most is the refined and yet frank way in which this devotion is expressed in the music and is revealed in the writing, in the way it unfolds majestically, so to speak, across the staves and the pages. In other words one is struck not only audibly but also visually by the limpidity with which the five pieces pay homage to their source, namely Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs. Miroirs, that is mirrors. A title that at the time – we are in 1905 – encapsulated the genius with which the composer played with the ambiguities of symbolist and im-pressionist poetics, of the eternal torments concerning the expressive and semantic qualities of music. Because the mirror reflects, represents, but also deceives, creates illusions.