Leonskaja - Paris

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

*** Résumé en anglais seulement ***After a break in the studio for a few years, Elisabeth Leonskaja returned to the studio to record one of her memorable concert programs - including the 1st Enescu Sonata, which accompanies her ever since she won the 1st prize of the Enescu Competition in Bucharest at the age of 18. - From her last recital in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London: Enescu's F Sharp minor Sonata is a Sphinx which, this pianist persuades us, has real secrets at every turn. If his first movement felt like an improvisation, it was one with miraculous modulations and hints of themes that he could have developed, had he so chosen. A presto whirls us into the streets before a tolling entombed finale which eventually comes up for air. Around it we needed the concentrated flights of Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and three Debussy Préludes. The Ravel was all about the subtlest of waltz-rubatos - ... - while Leonskaja kept her bigger, blueprint sonorities in check for Enescu. With perfect symmetry, her second encore would restore us to French 3/4 in a serious take on Debussy's La plus que lente. Refreshingly, there was not a hint of dry ice on either of these phantom ballrooms, nor in Debussy's wind that sweeps majestically across the plains. His Girl with the Flaxen hair was more an imperious Mona Lisa than a Greek kore (...). - the artsdesk.com..........You can listen to excerpts of every track on the website of the label eaSonus.