With this programme, I feel that I am offering some of the most beautiful things produced by the Slavic lands from which I come – their deep emotions, infinite sweetness as well as their strength and courage of life.
Tchaikovsky’s famous rustic Dumka piece is one of the numbers – with its painful and some genuinely playful sections, alongside his splendid Romance, as well as other rarely performed pieces such as Glinka’s profound Separation, his sparkling Memory of a Mazurka along with the religious sentiment of Borodin’s In the monastery, interwoven with the poetry of his Intermezzo full of hope.
This programme echoes life – it is full of contrasts and intense emotions. This music, I feel it equally bewitching and life-giving! (Jasmina Kulaglich)
And as a gift – to discover, thanks to the collaboration with Arthur Chimkovitch – pieces by Russian female composers, almost never heard on stage including ones from Ella Adaïevsky – her majestic Sarabande, and a richly sober Gavotte with veiled allusions in its central section.
Kashperova’s skin-deep lyricism in Two Roses reaches out to the volcanic force of Khachaturian’s Toccata, topped off by Tatiana Nikolayeva’s return to the innocence of childhood with Album for children, so intensely rich in energy it makes you want to dance!
From the very first chords of Reminiscences of a Mazurka, Glinka's fraternal melancholy, like a love letter to Chopin, reveals the essential : all that is of value is emotion. This album is moving in its simplicity and conveys a precious lesson to keep to heart: life, in all its aspects, is sacred.
This album is moving in its simplicity. A moment of pure happiness in this troubled period.
The Dumka, at the heart of an album that celebrates life – It offers proof that music, and the arts, prepare for the future and better times for humanity.