It is said that the young Bach regularly travelled far and wide for any opportunity to hear organist Johann Reincken, a man who could improvise at the organ better than anyone – that is, until Bach ultimately came to surpass him. He, too, could move an audience to tears. Everyone knows that Prague adores Mozart, and especially The Marriage of Figaro, which Mozart conducted himself in the city in 1787. But not everyone knows that it was at the premier of his Prague Symphony, when he surprised the audience with an improvised piano solo that descended into a brilliant fantasy on the Figaro aria Non più andrai, that he won the heart of the city forever. And then, there is Franz Liszt. In the 1830s and 40s, he could count half of Europe among his fans – certainly the female half, at least – not because of his note-perfect interpretation of a late Beethoven sonata (which he was infamous for performing most extravagantly), but because all you had to do was hum a melody from Don Giovanni, I Puritani, Der Freischütz or Les Huguenots and he would set off on a musical odyssey on waves of notes freshly arranged in that musical brain of his… Improvising. Fantasizing. On the spot, dressing the theme up in the latest, trendiest styles, turning it into a completely new composition – a musical feat that is the backbone of the jazz of the 20th century, all but vanished from the concert hall today. But it was once the domain of the great composers. Today we play the notes, we play them at an extremely high level, we immerse ourselves in the composer as deeply as possible, we interpret his intentions, but in the end, we restrict ourselves to the dots on paper.
<p><strong>Mariam Batsashvili </strong></p>
<p>On 8 November 2014 Mariam Batsashvili (Georgia, 1993) won First Prize at the 10th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht. She is the rst female First Prize winner of the Liszt Competition. As a winner she embarked on an extensive concert tour, taking her to more than 30 countries. Mariam Batsashvili studied successively at the E. Mikeladze Central Music School in Tbilisi with Natalia Natsvlishvili and at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar with Grigory Gruzman. She has won prizes from various competitions such as First Prize at the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar in 2011 as well as the prestigious Arturo Benedetti Michelan- geli award in 2015. Mariam Batsashvili has been selected as a ‘Rising Star’ by ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) for the Season 2016/17, which sees her performing in the 21 most prestigious venues of Europe. Mariam Batsashvili is scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben (German Music Foundation</p>
A promising debut. The Bach/Busoni Chaconne could be more searing, but the Mozart opera fantasy by Liszt and Howard takes flight.
Rebecca Franks
Luister 5 out of 5
Mariam Batsashvli plays graceful, translucent, with sparkling decorations. Then we enter another world. In Handel operation of Liszt immediately clear why the Georgian pianist has won the Liszt Competition 2014. This is her domain. With a rich, generous sound and accurate phrasing will rarely heard works by Liszt a performance with style. Also in The album title ‘Early Transcriptions’ means that the chosen pieces are all adaptations of works by earlier generations of composers from the Baroque and Classical period. The adaptation by the Bach-Marcello concert remains within the Baroque. Mariam Batsashvli plays graceful, translucent, with sparkling decorations. Then we enter another world. In Handel adaptation of Liszt immediately clear why the Georgian pianist has won the Liszt Competition 2014. This is her domain. With a rich, generous sound and accurate phrasing will rarely heard works by Liszt a performance with style. Also in the Bach-Busoni Chaconne the qualities of Batsahvili fully valid: subtle, powerful and virtuosic. Liszt’s ingenious quasi-improvisatory interweaving of themes from Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni – completed by Leslie Howard – is similar spectacle the highlight of the recital. The recording is impressive sonorous, by Tom Peeters, in the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.
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Met de albumtitel ‘Early Transcriptions’ wordt bedoeld dat de gekozen stukken allemaal bewerkingen zijn van werken van eerdere generaties componisten, uit de Barok en de Klassieke periode. De bewerking door Bach van het Marcello-concert blijft binnen de Barok. Mariam Batsashvli speelt het sierlijk, doorzichtig, met flonkerende versieringen. Dan gaan we een andere wereld binnen. In de Händel-bewerking van Liszt wordt meteen duidelijk waarom deze Georgische pianiste het Liszt-concours van 2014 heeft gewonnen. Dit is haar domein. Met een volle, gulle klank en een trefzekere frasering krijgt dit zelden te horen werk van Liszt een uitvoering met allure. Ook in de Bach-Busoni Chaconne komen de kwaliteiten van Batsahvili volledig tot gelding: subtiel, krachtig en virtuoos. Liszt’s kunstig quasi-improvisatorisch vervlechten van thema’s uit Mozarts opera’s Le Nozze di Figaro en Don Giovanni – voltooid door Leslie Howard – is qua spektakel het hoogtepunt van het recital. De opname is indrukwekkend klankrijk, van de hand van Tom Peeters, in het Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.
Hans Quant
Gramophone
“The Marcello is by no means an obvious choice. True, its slow movement used to be a favoured encore piece. But there is little a pianist can bring to the fast outer movements beyond level-headed musicianship, as Batsashvili offers here. Nor is the Handel/Liszt Sarabande und Chaconne exactly an attention-grabber, with Liszt in comparatively restrained mood. The Bach-Busoni Chaconne is at the other extreme, of course – the acme of attention-seeking. If Batsashvili doesn’t embrace its gothic excesses as wholeheartedly as certain virtuosos of yore, that may actually be a bonus for some listeners. Similarly, the Mozart/Liszt/Howard conflation is carefully and persuasively unfolded but without the full monty of abandon and calculated tastelessness it invites (demands?). All fair enough for a debutante, you might say.”
Schon das von Bach übernommene Konzert von Allesandro Marcello mag sie mit einer inneren Strahlkraft und einer anschlagstechnischen Feinhiet zu versehen, dass man sich sicher sein kann, diese Werk auf dies Weise noch nicht gehört zu haben.
Und hier blitzen dann auch Batsashivlis humorvolle, verspielte und technisch-brillante Seiten auf und machen diese CD zu einem Fest des faszinierenden Klavierspiels einer wirklichen Ausnahmeerscheinung unter den jungen Pianisten. Bravo!
Even the concerto of Allesandro Marcello, taken over by Bach, may well have an inner radiance and a touch of technique, that one can be sure not to have heard this work in this way.
Batsashivli’s humor, playful and technically brilliant approach sparkles and make this CD a feast of fascinating piano playing of a real exceptional person among the young pianists. Bravo!
Carsten Dürer
Pizzicato 5 out of 5
This is one truly beautiful piano CD with a rather special yet totally attractive program. Mariam Batsashvili has a flawless technique, she uses a broad color palette as well as finely tuned dynamic nuances, but at the end, every technical aspect disappears behind the pianist’s overwhelming sensitivity and poetry’
We horen het allemaal terug in het uitzonderlijke raffinement van haar spel op deze cd, de kleurrijke sferen die zij oproept (Bach/Busoni), de aristocratische elegantie die zij etaleert (Bach/Marcello), de briljante finesse die zij tentoonspreidt (Mozart/Liszt) naast de contemplatieve diepte van haar betoog (Händel/Liszt).
De jonge Georgische opent haar boeiende exposé echter met de transcriptie die de beroemde Bach in 1713/14 maakte van het Hoboconcert in d van zijn Italiaanse tijdgenoot Marcello. Het luisteren is een feest want Batsashvili weet de barokke klanken op de moderne vleugel in een perfecte helderheid te communiceren. Dat is best knap voor iemand die zich vaak in de pompeuze retoriek van Liszt begeeft.
Bewonderenswaardig is hoe ze op een moderne vleugel het barokkarakter pregnant en helder in stand houdt. Deze houding komt ook de Busoni bewerking van Bachs beroemde Chaconne ten goede. Deze klinkt spannend, uit een stuk Mooi worden de melodielijnen open gehouden en vervlochten; datzelfde is ook het geval bij de leuke Händel adaptaties waar de inmenging van Liszt duidelijk hoorbaar wordt gemaakt, maar niet in romantisch zwelgen ontaardt.
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