Composer: Ferencz Liszt
Performer: Charles Owen
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avie
Catalogue: AV2476
Release: 2021
Size: 1.84 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Années de pèlerinage, 1ère année, Suisse (9 pieces), S. 160
01. 1. Chapelle de Guillaume Tell
02. 2. Au lac de Wallenstadt
03. 3. Pastorale
04. 4. Au bord d’une source
05. 5. Orage
06. 6. Vallée d’Obermann
07. 7. Eglogue
08. 8. Le mal du pays (Heimweh)
09. 9, Les cloches de Genève
10. Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 3)
With his critically acclaimed AVIE Records recordings of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Faur and Sergei Rachmaninov to his credit, the celebrated British pianist Charles Owen scales the heights of Franz Liszt’s anthology Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse (“Years of Travel, First Year: Switzerland”), which evokes the great 19th-century pianist-composer’s Swiss sojourns with aural impressions of the Alpine landscape, its peaks and valleys, mountains and streams, and the country’s distinctive folk music. Literary references abound as they do in the album’s concluding piece, the emotional Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (“The Blessing of God in Solitude”) which was inspired by a poem penned by Liszt’s friend Alphonse de Lamartine. Emotions ran equally high for Charles Owen who turned to Liszt during lockdown. The uncertainty of being homebound throughout the pandemic was eased by the extra meaning and solace of the composer’s evocations of journeying, experiencing the natural world and its sense of beauty and liberation.
Charles Owen enjoys an extensive international career performing a wide-ranging repertoire to outstanding critical acclaim. He appears at many major UK venues such as Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, The Sage & Kings Place. Internationally, he has performed at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Brahms Saal in Vienna’s Musikverein, the Paris Muse d’Orsay, and the Moscow Conservatoire. His chamber music partners include Julian Rachlin, Chloe Hanslip, Augustin Hadelich and Nicholas Daniel as well as the Vertavo and Takacs Quartets. A regular guest at UK festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Leicester and Ryedale he has also performed in Australia at the Perth and Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville. Charles’ concerto appearances have included the Philharmonia, Hall, Aurora and London Philharmonic orchestras. He has enjoyed collaborations with many leading conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Ryan Wigglesworth, Nicholas Collon and Martyn Brabbins. Charles’ solo recordings comprise discs of piano music by JS Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Jancek, Poulenc and Faur. Chamber music recordings include the cello sonatas of Rachmaninov and Chopin with Natalie Clein, the Stravinsky Piano Ballets and Rachmaninov Suites with Katya Apekisheva and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Piano Quintet with the Sacconi Quartet. Charles Owen is a Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School, Guest Professor at RWCMD, Co-Artistic Director of London Piano Festival and was appointed Steinway & Sons UK Ambassador in 2016.