Alexandra Silocea: Sound Waves
Alexandra Silocea (piano)
Silocea is perhaps the strongest in the Liszt selection: here she shows powerful virtuosity...Still, she does sometimes become bogged down in watery detail. In the French repertoire particularly,...
Alexandra Silocea: Sound Waves
Alexandra Silocea (piano)
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Silocea is perhaps the strongest in the Liszt selection: here she shows powerful virtuosity...Still, she does sometimes become bogged down in watery detail. In the French repertoire particularly,...
About
On ‘Sound Waves’, Alexandra Silocea immerses herself in the aqueous sonorities of some of the great pianistic composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Schubert, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel, plus a world-premiere recording of a work commissioned by young Norwegian composer Martin Romberg.
Alexandra Silocea made something of a splash with her debut recording on AVIE of the first five Piano Sonatas by Prokofiev (AV2183), which “I don't recall having heard being played better by anyone”, according to International Record Review. For her follow up she immerses herself in the aqueous sonorities of some of the great pianistic composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The rippling stream in Schubert’s ‘Der Müller und der Bach’ from the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin is faithfully reproduced for solo keyboard by Liszt whose own, grander Jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este evokes a fountain in the gardens of a Tivoli villa. In Reflets dans l'eau Debussy subtly interplays watery reflections, both melodic and rhythmic, whilst Ravel, like Liszt, celebrates a fountain, this one in Versailles, in Jeux d'eau. These and other water-inspired works flow through Alexandra’s second recording, ‘Sound Waves’. She adds a distinctive stamp with a commission by the young Norwegian composer, Martin Romberg, Eärendil, meaning “lover of the sea” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s elven language of Quenya.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2013
Silocea is perhaps the strongest in the Liszt selection: here she shows powerful virtuosity...Still, she does sometimes become bogged down in watery detail. In the French repertoire particularly, one becomes very aware of every droplet rather than the whole lake or fountain.
September 2013
Silocea proves to be as good a pianist as she is a programme-builder and her playing offers much to savour, especially in the Liszt selections...Silocea shapes the relentless octaves or 'Orage' with melodic cogency rather than banging them out...In all, an attractive and well-recorded programme.